Stephen Bann
Encyclopedia
Stephen Bann CBE
, FBA
(born Manchester
, England, 1942) is the Emeritus Professor of History of Art
at the University of Bristol
. He attended Winchester College
and King's College, Cambridge
, attaining his PhD
in 1967.
He was subsequently appointed Professor of Modern Cultural Studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury
, and later appointed to the Chair in History of Art at Bristol in 2000. He was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1998, and named a CBE
in 2004.
historical perspective, but through acknowledgement of such examples' location in a broader, metahistorical network. Visual sources, sometimes even unlikely or fragmentary ones, are valued by the author as still points of reference: “a visual example provides a support for the exegesis that the reader (spectator) can follow in a directly participatory way. Its very self-contained nature (as opposed to an extract from a text) enables it to generate cross-references as well as to provide a field for practical analysis” (Romanticism and the Rise of History).
Bann's notion of 'historical-mindedness' as originating in the 19th Century and particularly in Paris is unique in the addition of the concept of 'the poetics of the museum'. Here, the subjectivity of the author of a museum or collection is established as significant in determining how particular representations of the past are structured, specifically in terms of tendencies toward synecdoche (empathetic recreation) and/or metonymy (mechanical and sequential display).
Bann's interest in semiotics
, the capacity of images to bear significance, is exemplified in Under the Sign: John Bargrave as Collector, Traveler, and Witness (1994), which comments on the peculiar history and status of a 17th Century cabinet of curiosity as an aid in the self-definition of the collector. Themes of travel and acquisition are brought together on these grounds to detect meaning. Similarly, in writing on the history of gardens, Bann has found cause to cite the Scottish poet Ian Hamilton Finlay
, amongst others indicative of a contemporary imaginative predisposition.
In Ways Around Modernism (2006), Bann affirms his approach of appreciating commentaries or histories as themselves change- and epoch-making. The argument is completed with an assessment of Post-Modernism in connection with “the historical phenomenon of 'curiosity'” which, for Bann, “has resurfaced as a widespread and noteworthy feature of present-day art”. By implication, Post-Modernism may thus reveal overlooked qualities in Modernism
. An insistence upon the importance of looking and unstinting attentiveness, in addition to inter-disciplinary openness, is characteristic and influential in his writing.
Bann has also depicted modernity through architectural study, particularly in his article for the Burlington Magazine, Architecture: A modern analysis of system and discourse. The article led Hamish Proto of The Tablet to remark,'this discourse adds to our translation of modernity through an empirical approach to viewing system and building together on the one stand'.
Bann's book Parallel Lines: Printmakers, Painters and Photographers in Nineteenth-Century France (Yale University Press, 2001) was awarded the 2003 R. H. Gapper Book Prize
by the UK Society for French Studies
. This prize recognises the work as the best book published by a scholar working in Britain or Ireland in French studies in 2001.
In 2006, the American academic journal, Grande Fromage named Bann as one of the leading thinkers on modernity, stating "Stephen Bann has done much to explain the abstract and make the subject of modernity fresh and alive."
Stephen Bann has also contributed translations of Roland Barthes
's The Discourse of History and Julia Kristeva
's Proust and the Sense of Time (1993).
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
, FBA
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national body for the humanities and the social sciences. Its purpose is to inspire, recognise and support excellence in the humanities and social sciences, throughout the UK and internationally, and to champion their role and value.It receives an annual...
(born Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, England, 1942) is the Emeritus Professor of History of Art
History of art
The History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...
at the University of Bristol
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol is a public research university located in Bristol, United Kingdom. One of the so-called "red brick" universities, it received its Royal Charter in 1909, although its predecessor institution, University College, Bristol, had been in existence since 1876.The University is...
. He attended Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
and King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
, attaining his PhD
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in 1967.
He was subsequently appointed Professor of Modern Cultural Studies at the University of Kent at Canterbury
University of Kent
The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...
, and later appointed to the Chair in History of Art at Bristol in 2000. He was made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1998, and named a CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
in 2004.
Work
Stephen Bann's work has been influential in focusing scholarly attention toward connections between the history of art and visual culture. The Clothing of Clio (1984), The Inventions of History (1990) and Romanticism and the Rise of History (1995) are concerned in particular with the deepening consciousness of history particular to the 19th Century. The examples that Bann takes are explained by him not from a reductive artReductive art
Reductive art is a term to describe an artistic style or an aesthetic, rather than an art movement. Movements and other terms associated with reductive art include Minimal art, ABC art, anti-illusionism, cool art, rejective art , Bauhaus aesthetic, work that emphasizes clarity, simplification,...
historical perspective, but through acknowledgement of such examples' location in a broader, metahistorical network. Visual sources, sometimes even unlikely or fragmentary ones, are valued by the author as still points of reference: “a visual example provides a support for the exegesis that the reader (spectator) can follow in a directly participatory way. Its very self-contained nature (as opposed to an extract from a text) enables it to generate cross-references as well as to provide a field for practical analysis” (Romanticism and the Rise of History).
Bann's notion of 'historical-mindedness' as originating in the 19th Century and particularly in Paris is unique in the addition of the concept of 'the poetics of the museum'. Here, the subjectivity of the author of a museum or collection is established as significant in determining how particular representations of the past are structured, specifically in terms of tendencies toward synecdoche (empathetic recreation) and/or metonymy (mechanical and sequential display).
Bann's interest in semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
, the capacity of images to bear significance, is exemplified in Under the Sign: John Bargrave as Collector, Traveler, and Witness (1994), which comments on the peculiar history and status of a 17th Century cabinet of curiosity as an aid in the self-definition of the collector. Themes of travel and acquisition are brought together on these grounds to detect meaning. Similarly, in writing on the history of gardens, Bann has found cause to cite the Scottish poet Ian Hamilton Finlay
Ian Hamilton Finlay
Ian Hamilton Finlay, CBE, was a Scottish poet, writer, artist and gardener.-Biography:Finlay was born in Nassau, Bahamas of Scottish parents. He was educated in Scotland at Dollar Academy. At the age of 13, with the outbreak of World War II, he was evacuated to family in the countryside...
, amongst others indicative of a contemporary imaginative predisposition.
In Ways Around Modernism (2006), Bann affirms his approach of appreciating commentaries or histories as themselves change- and epoch-making. The argument is completed with an assessment of Post-Modernism in connection with “the historical phenomenon of 'curiosity'” which, for Bann, “has resurfaced as a widespread and noteworthy feature of present-day art”. By implication, Post-Modernism may thus reveal overlooked qualities in Modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
. An insistence upon the importance of looking and unstinting attentiveness, in addition to inter-disciplinary openness, is characteristic and influential in his writing.
Bann has also depicted modernity through architectural study, particularly in his article for the Burlington Magazine, Architecture: A modern analysis of system and discourse. The article led Hamish Proto of The Tablet to remark,'this discourse adds to our translation of modernity through an empirical approach to viewing system and building together on the one stand'.
Bann's book Parallel Lines: Printmakers, Painters and Photographers in Nineteenth-Century France (Yale University Press, 2001) was awarded the 2003 R. H. Gapper Book Prize
R. H. Gapper Book Prize
The R.H. Gapper Book Prize, offered by the Society for French Studies, is a monetary prize that has been offered annually since 2002 for the best book published in the field of French Studies by a scholar based at an institution of higher education in the UK or Ireland.-Table of winners:-External...
by the UK Society for French Studies
Society for French Studies
The Society for French Studies, or SFS, is the oldest learned association for French Studies in the UK and Ireland. It aims to promote teaching and research in French Studies within higher education....
. This prize recognises the work as the best book published by a scholar working in Britain or Ireland in French studies in 2001.
In 2006, the American academic journal, Grande Fromage named Bann as one of the leading thinkers on modernity, stating "Stephen Bann has done much to explain the abstract and make the subject of modernity fresh and alive."
Stephen Bann has also contributed translations of Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes
Roland Gérard Barthes was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism, anthropology and...
's The Discourse of History and Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva
Julia Kristeva is a Bulgarian-French philosopher, literary critic, psychoanalyst, sociologist, feminist, and, most recently, novelist, who has lived in France since the mid-1960s. She is now a Professor at the University Paris Diderot...
's Proust and the Sense of Time (1993).
Publications
- + Reg Gadney, Frank Popper, and Philip Steadman, Four Essays on Kinetic Art, St. Albans, 1966
- Experimental Painting: Construction, Abstraction, Destruction, Reduction, London, 1967
- + J.E. Bowlt (eds), Russian Formalism: A Collection of Articles and Texts in Translation, Edinburgh, 1973
- (ed), The Tradition of Constructivism, New York, 1974
- The Clothing of Clio: A Study of the Representation of History in Nineteenth-Century Britain and France, Cambridge, 1984
- The True Vine: On Visual Representation and Western Tradition, Cambridge, 1989
- The Inventions of History: Essays on the Representation of the Past, Manchester, 1990
- + William Allen (eds), Interpreting Contemporary Art, London, 1991
- + Krishan Kumar (eds), Utopias and the Millennium, London, 1993
- Under the Sign: John Bargrave as Collector, Traveler, and Witness, Michigan, 1995
- (ed) Frankenstein, Creation and Monstrosity, London, 1994
- The Sculpture of Stephen Cox, London, 1995
- Romanticism and the Rise of History, New York, 1995
- "Eminent Views" with Bob Chaplin. Limited edition book, Connecticut, 1995
- Paul Delaroche, London, 1997
- Parallel Lines: Printmakers, Painters, and Photographers in Nineteenth-Century France, Yale, 2001
- The Tradition of Constructivism, London, 2001
- Jannis Kounellis, London, 2004
- The Reception of Walter Pater in Europe, London, 2004
- Ways Around Modernism (Theories of Modernism and Postmodernism in the Visual Arts), London, 2006
Additional bibliography
- Cherry, Deborah (ed), About Stephen Bann, Blackwell, Oxford 2006
- Conan, Michel (ed), Landscape Design and the Experience of Motion, Washington D.C, 2003