Persistence of vision – Blind Spots after ten years’

Abstract

Frederic Schwartz’s important book, Blind Spots, is revisited after ten years and an inadequate reception within art history. Its pioneering discussion is summarized and then, taking into account the passage of a decade and the emergence of new priorities in the intellectual landscape (and particularly the overall ‘return to Marx’), its major points are assessed. Arguing that its deconstruction of Frankfurt school figures risks conflating its project with a common sense view of history, the review urges a reconsideration of the category of “physiognomy” and the consequent oppositions that a caricature of it produces.

Keywords

• Frankfurt School
• Walter Benjamin; Ernst Bloch
• Siegfried Kracauer
• Hans Sedlmayr