This is Not a Pipe
Author | : Michel Foucault |
Publisher | : Univ of California Press |
Total Pages | : 108 |
Release | : 1983 |
ISBN-10 | : 0520049160 |
ISBN-13 | : 9780520049161 |
Rating | : 4/5 (60 Downloads) |
Book excerpt: What does it mean to write "This is not a pipe" across a bluntly literal painting of a pipe? Ren� Magritte's famous canvas provides the starting point for a delightful homage by the French philosopher-historian Michel Foucault. Much better known for his incisive and mordant explorations of power and social exclusion, Foucault here assumes a more playful stance. By exploring the nuances and ambiguities of Magritte's visual critique of language, he finds the painter less removed than previously thought from the pioneers of modern abstraction--"confronting them and within a common system, a figure at once opposed and complementary." Foucault's brief but extraordinarily rich essay offers a startling, highly provocative view of a painter whose influence and popularity continue to grow unchecked. This is Not a Pipe also throws a new, piquantly dancing light on Foucault himself.