How Do We Look: The Body, the Divine, and the Question of Civilization

Beard (Women & Power: A Manifesto) examines how people historically have interpreted art in this disjointed two-part narrative. Part one looks at depictions of the body in ancient art from around the world, including an enormous 3,000- year-old stone head that sits in a jungle in Mexico and ancient Chinese emperor Qin’s tomb in China. In Greece, the sculpted, well-toned male body in statuary and painted pottery images of women performing domestic tasks convey a message about ideal living, which Beard likens to advertisements of the 1950s. Part two focuses on depictions of the divine in art as they appear in the Hindu temple at Angkor Wat in Cambodia; cave art at Ajanta, India; a mosaic of Jesus at the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy; the Sancaklar Mosque in Istanbul; and elaborately illustrated Jewish Bibles that have sparked “human controversy and conflict, peril and risk.” Beard’s clear and often witty prose is on full display and, as usual, her book is filled with historical detail, but the two sections fail to come together. There are enough intriguing morsels to satisfy longtime fans of Beard, but the book as a whole feels underdeveloped. Illus. and photos. (Sept.)