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Title: Technicians of Ecstasy: Shamanism and the Modern Artist by Mark Levy ISBN: 0-9626184-4-6 Publisher: Bramble Co Pub. Date: September, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.2 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: An enthralling, well written subject
Comment: I found Mr. Levy's work on shamanic techniqes as it applies to contempoary artists particularly fascinating. His research navigates the theory that mondern artists (visual as well as performance) such as Van Gogh, Kahlo, Dali and others were able to produce the transcendental content of their work through classic shamanic practices. Mr. Levy clearly illustrates the multiplicity of the creative process therein giving reverence and relevance to shamanic techniqes and towards the comprehension and appreciation of modern art. A must read for any art appreciator!
Rating: 5
Summary: Well-researched and academically argued
Comment: Although the casual reader (that is, a lazy reader looking for easy, New-Agey content) might find Levy's book too rigorous and academic, I felt that he was scrupulous and thorough in making a case for his theory that many contemporary artists use traditional shamanic techniques to achieve the spiritual and metaphysical content in their work. The profiles of individual artists and their specific uses of certain techniques or processes was especially illuminating, and I appreciated the fact that he included seminal figures like Joseph Beuys and performance artists like Karen Finley-- whose radical content sometimes obscures the powerful social critique it carries. Levy was clear in revealing how work by an individual can heal or benefit an audience of viewers or an entire community. The sections in the back of the book wherein he describes specific shamanic techniques in detail for those who want to experiment with them was especially valuable. Contrary to what another reviewer wrote, there was nothing spacey, indulgent or Druidic about this scholarly work!
Rating: 5
Summary: SPLENDID SURVEY!
Comment: TECHNICIANS OF ECSTASY: SHAMANISM & THE MODERN ARTIST by Mark Levy
A Review by Lanier Graham, Director, University Art Gallery California State University, Hayward
What is the relationship between shamanic art and Modern art? Until recently, most people in the art world would have answered: "little or none." Specialists have known for a long time that the relationship actually is very important. But the literature has been small, largely because most art historians have not known enough about shamanism to discuss it in critical terms. Levy is an exception, and his book is an excellent introduction to the subject. There are good reasons why his book has received very positive reviews from noted authorities on shamanism. Not only is he an unusually well-informed art historian, he also has studied the shamanic tradition extensively with highly respected teachers.
Levy guides us to the origins of Modernism among the Symbolist poets and painters when Mallarmé was arguing for the shamanic spirit of Orphism, and when Rimbaud and van Gogh were engaged in private, painful "vision quests" in their secular search for the sacred. Few artists regarded tribal art as beautiful until Gauguin, the Fauves, and the Expressionists looked with new eyes. Picasso and the Cubists also were moved by shamanic art, but their interest was primarily formal. Not until the Surrealists did modern artists look for the shamanic psychology behind the forms. By the era of Abstract Expressionism in the 1940s & '50s, a large number of leading artists were starting to compare themselves to shamans. The curtain between worlds was being lifted.
With the development of Postmodernism in the second half of the 20th century, Neo-shamanism spread to the far corners of the contemporary art world. In a series of penetrating profiles, Levy focuses on semi-shamanic techniques used by a variety of visual and performing artists who do not have the arrogance to call themselves "shamans," but have drawn on the wisdom of our tribal ancestors to bring rays of light into a dark world. The artists discussed offer important clues to how art can help us through the poisoning clouds of self-centered rationalism toward a fuller, richer humanity.
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Title: How to Make Drums, Tom-Toms and Rattles by Bernard Mason ISBN: 0486218899 Publisher: Peter Smith Pub Pub. Date: August, 1974 List Price(USD): $22.25 |
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Title: Centering in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person by Mary Caroline Richards ISBN: 0819562009 Publisher: Wesleyan Univ Pr Pub. Date: 15 May, 1989 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Everyday Sacred : A Woman's Journey Home by Sue Bender ISBN: 0062512900 Publisher: Harper SanFrancisco Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Healing Sounds: The Power of Harmonics by Jonathan Goldman ISBN: 0892819936 Publisher: Inner Traditions Intl Ltd Pub. Date: 30 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: They Dance in the Sky : Native American Star Myths by Ray A Williamson, Jean Guard Monroe, Edgar Stewart ISBN: 039539970X Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 27 April, 1987 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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