A Short History of the Shadow

In this investigative tour de force, Victor I. Stoichita untangles the history of one of the most enduring technical and symbolic challenges to confront Western artists: the depiction and meaning of shadows. Stoichita’s compelling and expansive account draws on texts by Renaissance artist-authors such as Vasari and Cennini, folk and fairy tales, and classical myths; works by van Eyck, Poussin, Malevich, De Chirico, and Picasso, among other masters; as well as German Expressionist cinema, photography, and child psychology. It is a wholly original investigation of a subject that for centuries has challenged the very meaning of art as representation.