David Cottington’s short introduction to modern art published in Persian

TEHRAN – “Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction” by British author David Cottington has been published in Persian.

Mahi is the publisher of the book translated into Persian by Ahmadreza Taqa.

Public interest in modern art continues to grow, as witnessed by the spectacular success of the Tate Modern in London and the Bilbao Guggenheim. 

“Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction” engages general readers, offering them not only information and ideas about modern art, but also explaining its contemporary relevance and history. 

The book focuses on interrogating the idea of modern art by asking such questions as: What makes a work of art qualify as modern, or fail to? How has this selection been made? What is the relationship between modern and contemporary art? Is postmodernist art no longer modern, or just no longer modernist? In either case, why–and what does this claim mean, both for art and the idea of the modern?

Cottington examines many key aspects of this subject, including the issue of controversy in modern art, from Manet’s Dejeuner sur L’Herbe (1863) to Picasso’s Les Demoiselles, and Tracey Emin’s Bed (1999). 

He also looks at the role of the dealer from the main Cubist art dealer Kahnweiler, to Charles Saatchi.

The book is from the series “Very Short Introductions” that offers an introduction to some of life’s most interesting topics. 

Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

Photo: Front cover of the Persian translation of David Cottington’s “Modern Art: A Very Short Introduction”.

MMS/YAW