Shape of Time

Remarks on the History of Things

Kubler George

When it was first released in 1962, "The Shape of Time" presented a radically new approach to the study of art history. Drawing upon new insights in fields such as anthropology and linguistics, George Kubler replaced the notion of style as the basis for histories of art with the concept of historical sequence and continuous change across time. Kubler's classic work is now made available in a freshly designed edition.

About the Author

The late George Kubler (1912-1996) was Sterling Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. He is also the author of "The Art and Architecture of Ancient America", published by Yale.

Reviews

"'The Shape of Time' is as relevant now as it was in 1962. This book, a sober, deeply introspective and quietly thrilling meditation on the flow of time and space and the place of objects within a larger continuum, adumbrates so many of the critical and theoretical concerns of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. It is both appropriate and necessary that it reappear in our consciousness at this time" – Edward J. Sullivan, New York University

"Kubler's telling of the history of things remains a key text, his vision a compelling mixture of the habitual and the poetic in human behaviour. For him, human creativity is a constantly repeated attempt to refine answers to a set of questions that change only slowly. But this universal habit is punctuated by the great works of art, ways of doing and seeing that he compares to stars, influencing, shaping and illuminating even after they have been destroyed" – Neil MacGregor, Director, The British Museum

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