The Sinister Side: How Left-Right Symbolism Shaped Western Art

Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008. Book. As New. Hardcover. 1st Edition. 9 1/4 h x 6 1/4w. A real nice clean unmarked 489 page first edition (stated first published 2008) hardcover with 1 low in number line. Illustrated throughout. First book to detail the richness and subtlety of left-right symbolism since the Renaissance, and to show how it was a catalyst for some of the greatest works of visual art from Leonardo and Michelangelo to Picasso. Traditionally, the left side was regarded as evil, weak, and worldly, but with the Renaissance, artists began to represent the left side as the side that represented authentic human feelings and especially love. In the late nineteenth century, with the rise of interest in the occult and in spiritualism, the left side becomes associated with the taboo and with the unconscious..