'Race Is Everything': Art and Human Difference

(Hardback)

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'Race Is Everything' looks at ideas of 'racial science' in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, and how art was influenced by it. It looks at race in general, but with a particular concentration on attitudes towards and representations of people of African and Jewish descent. David Bindman argues that behind all racial ideas is the belief that outward appearance, and especially skull-shape, can be correlated with inner character and intelligence, and that these could be used to create a seemingly scientific hierarchy of races. The book considers many aspects, including the skull as a racial marker; ancient Egypt as a precedent for Southern slavery; Darwin, race and aesthetics; the 'Mediterranean race'; the visual aspects of eugenics; and the racial politics of Emil Nolde.

Reviews

"Bindman's 'Race Is Everything' more than fulfills the promise of its title. How we see race is determined by our ideologies of difference, which are often so habituated that we believe we see our world and its inhabitants in an unmitigated manner. By looking at the visual codes in modern Western art representing difference--from the African to the Jew and beyond--Bindman provides us with means of deciphering our visual codes while detailing how such codes evolved and persist. A brilliant (and beautiful) work of cultural criticism."--Sander Gilman, author of "Stand Up Straight! A History of Posture"

Author Bio

David Bindman is Emeritus Durning-Lawrence Professor of the History of Art, University College London and Fellow of the Hutchins Center, Harvard University. He is author or editor of many books including Ape to Apollo: Aesthetics and the Idea of Race in the 18th Century (Reaktion, 2002).