Animism and Shamanism in Twentieth-Century Art

Wassily Kandinsky, Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock and Joseph Beuys were the leading artists of their generations to recognize the rich possibilities that animism and shamanism offered. While each of these artists' connection with shamanism has been written about separately, author Evan Firestone brings the four together in order to better examine their individual approaches to anthropological materials and to define similarities and differences between them. Firestone's close readings of their artworks and examination of the relevant texts available to them reveal fresh new insights and perspectives.