The cultural geographies of Abstract Expressionism: painters,critics, dealers and the production of an Atlantic art

In this article I propose that the artistic genre of Abstract Expressionism which emerge d from New York in the late 1940s provides an illustrative example of the way a productive, trans-national geographical framework can be provided by exploring the cultural geographies of the Atlantic world. By drawing on the ways Abstract Expressionism was constructed and promoted within the rigid national perspective of 1950s' US cultural policy and reacted against in Britain and Europe on similarly nationalistic terms, I show how the circulatory exchange of cultural flows reveals a more co-produced understanding of these histories. The notion of a network of painters, dealers and critics is used to emphasize the way Abstract Expressionism was produced through a spatial framework which plays a constitutive, rather than purely connective, role. In doing so I draw particular attention to the period from the early 1950s to the 1960s and the artistic activity and critical writing associated with New York City and the Cornish coastal town of St Ives.

Les géographies culturelles de l'Expressionnisme Abstrait: les peintres, les critiques, les marchands et la production d'un art de l'Atlantique

Je propose dans cet article que le style artistique de l'Expressionnisme Abstrait, né à New York à la fin des années 1940, fournit un exemple permettant d'illustrer la façon dont un cadre géographique productif et transnational peut être élaboré à partir d'une exploration des géographies culturelles de l'univers Atlantique. En prenant comme base les moyens par lesquels l'Expressionnisme Abstrait a été construit et s'est développé dans le cadre rigide et national de la politique culturelle américaine des années 1950 et s'est confronté à une Angleterre et une Europe tout autant nationalistes, je démontre comment l'échange circulaire des courants culturels permet de voir et de comprendre que ces histoires ont en partie été coproduites. La notion de réseau de peintres, de marchands et de critiques sert à souligner par quel moyen l'Expressionnisme Abstrait a été produit au travers d'un cadre spatial dont la fonction est constitutive plutôt que simplement de permettre de former des liens. Ce faisant, j'attire l'attention sur l'époque allant du début des années 1950 jusque dans les années 1960 et sur l'activité artistique et les écrits critiques qui sont liés de près à la Ville de New York et à Saint-Ives, village côtier de Cornouailles.

Las geografías culturales del Expresionismo Abstracto: pintores, críticos, marchantes y la producción de un arte atlántico

En este papel sugiero que el género artístico de Expresionismo Abstracto que surgió en Nueva York en los años 40 es un ejemplo ilustrativo de la manera en que se puede facilitar un productivo marco geográfico transnacional por una exploración de las geografías culturales del mundo atlántico. Las maneras en que se construía y promovía el Expresionismo Abstracto dentro de la perspectiva nacional rígida de la política cultural de los Estados Unidos de los años 50 y las maneras en que se reaccionaba contra ello en Gran Bretaña y Europa en términos igualmente nacionalistas sirven como ejemplo de cómo el intercambio circulatorio de flujos culturales revela una interpretación co-producida de estas historias. La idea de una red de pintores, marchantes y críticos sirve para destacar el modo en que el Expresionismo Abstracto fue producido por un marco espacial que juega un papel tanto constitutivo como conectivo. En particular destaco el período de los años 50 a los años 60 y también la actividad artística y la literatura crítica asociada con la ciudad de Nueva York y la ciudad córnica costera de St Ives.     

Viewing animal bodies: truths,practical aesthetics and ethical considerability in UK livestock breeding

This paper focuses on the production of aesthetic ‘truths’ in UK livestock breeding, drawing on detailed qualitative research with breeders and breed societies. It extends emerging interest in the aesthetic in human geographical research, examining how aesthetic judgements about non-human animals depend, in part, on the agency of the animal and their inter-subjective relations with humans in specific places. Aesthetic evaluation further produces implicit judgements about animals' ethical considerability, at the same time obscuring the effects of such judgements on their framing and treatment. Aesthetic evaluation is thus related to sets of material and ethical interests. The paper develops a more-than-human reading of Foucault's biopower, which explores how truths about visual evaluations of animals become established. Two empirical perspectives explore, first, a ‘relational practical aesthetic’ for evaluating beef cattle and sheep, exploring the implications of the aesthetic framing of specific animals and, second, the tensions involved in looking at animals when different aesthetic truths conflict and when traditions of aesthetic evaluation encounter genetic modes of evaluation. The paper concludes by discussing the ethical implications of ongoing transformations of evaluative modes in livestock breeding, suggesting that shifts away from inter-subjective modes of aesthetic evaluation further diminish the ethical status of animals.     

Interpreting enterprise, state, and society: A critical review of the literature in modern Chinese business history, 1978�C2008

This article offers a critical review of literature in the area of modern Chinese business history from 1978 to 2008. It focuses on four interconnected topics: (1) the evolution of industrial capitalism, (2) the adoption of corporate hierarchies and/or social networks, (3) the change of financial institutions and monetary system, and (4) the development of state-owned industries and the formation of the (central) state enterprise system. The review reveals not only significant growth of the field of modern Chinese business history over the last three decades but also the existence of major gaps. The article concludes by considering the implications of its findings for understanding the political economy of business enterprises and enterprise systems in different national and historical contexts.     

Reviews

Gino Bedani, Politics and Ideology in the Italian Workers’ Movement: Union Development and the Changing Role of the Catholic and Communist Subcultures in Postwar Italy, Berg, Oxford, 1995, xiv + 365 pp., ISBN 0–85496–827‐X, £44.95.

Anna Bull and Paul Corner, From Peasant to Entrepreneur. The Survival of the Family Economy in Italy, Berg, Oxford, 1993, ix + 174 pp., ISBN 0–85496–309‐X, £29.95.

Daniela Luigia Caglioti, Il guadagno difficile. Commercianti napoletani nella seconda metà dell'Ottocento, Ricerca, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994, 272 pp., ISBN 88–15–04755–7, 36,000 Lire.

Salvatore Casillo and Vincenzo Moretti, False imprese e falsi imprenditori. Dall'industria fantasma allo sviluppo delle aree terremotate nel Mezzogiorno, Koinè, Rome, 1993, 258 pp., 28,000 Lire.

Christopher Duggan, A Concise History of Italy, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994, xiv + 320 pp., ISBN 0–521–40285–9, £25 hbk, ISBN 0–521–40848–2, £8.95 pbk.

Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia. The Business of Private Protection, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1993, 335 pp., ISBN 0–674–80741–3, £24.95 hbk.

Stefano Zamagni (ed.), Mercati illegaliemafie. L'economia delcrimine organizzato, II Mulino, Bologna, 1993, 410 pp., ISBN 88–15–04159–1, 50,000 Lire.

Marco Giusti and Alberto Piccinini, Ambra, Nuova ERI, Turin, 1994, 121 pp., ISBN 88–397–0902–9, 18,000 Lire.

Antonio Gramsci, Pre‐Prison Writings, edited by Richard Bellamy, translated by Virginia Cox, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994, 350 pp., ISBN 0–521–41143–2 hbk, £40.00, 0–521–42307–4 pbk, £10.95.

Richard M. Locke, Remaking the Italian Economy, Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1995, xiii + 232 pp., ISBN 0–8014–2221–3, £23.50.

Luisa Passerini, Mussolini immaginario, Laterza, Bari, 1991, 290 pp., ISBN 88–420–3738–9, 45,000 Lire.

Gian Franco Pompei, Un Ambasciatore in Vaticano. Diario, 1969–1977, a cura di Pietro Scoppola, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994, 604 pp., ISBN 88–15–04317–9, 60,000 Lire.

Lucy Riall, The Italian Risorgimento. State, Society and National Unification, Routledge, London, 1994, 101 pp., ISBN 0–415–05775–2.

Salvatore Vassallo, Il governo di partito in Italia (1943–93), Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994, 324 pp., ISBN 88–15–04589–9, 42,000 Lire.     

Young islanders,the meteorological imagination,and the art of geopolitical engagement

There is scant literature analysing how young islanders regard climate change, particularly in terms of resilience, agency and a geopolitical aesthetic. To address that gap, this paper offers a theoretical framework and empirical example responding to such issues. The work's theoretical foci are upon the role of the artist as interlocutor; the importance of arts practices in encouraging children to participate in climate change debates and actions; and the potential of what anthropologist Tim Ingold has called the meteorological imagination. These three matters inform a two-year praxis project – A Map of a Dream of the Future – involving methods from the geohumanities and engagement with young islanders, academics, artists and writers, community cultural development workers, and educators. Together, we worked on various activities to draw out our individual and collective ideas about islands, arts, climate change, and geopolitics. In the process were created an education kit, children's workshops and exhibitions, and a professional art installation at a major national arts festival. At the same time, new insights have been gained about how the meteorological imagination may be a significant resource by which to work with children as they come to terms with a future whose climate has changed.     

Publications briefly noted

SHARON KINSELLA. Adult Manga: culture and Power in Contemporary Japanese Society. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon Press, 2000. xii, 228 pp. £12.99, paper.

STEPHEN ESKILDSEN. Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1998. vii, 229 pp. US$19.85, paper.

H. A. J. KLOOSTER. Bibliography of the Indonesian Revolution, Publications from 1942 to 1994. Leiden: KITLV Press, 1997. Bibliographical Series no. 21. 666 pp.

J. E. HOARE (ed). Britain and Japan: biographical Portraits, Volume III. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 1999. xviii, 397 pp. £45.00, hardcover.

AYAKO HOTTA‐LISTER. The Japan‐British Exhibition of 1910: gateway to the Island Empire of the East. Richmond, Surrey: Japan Library, 1999. xvi, 256 pp. £45.00, hardcover.

JACQUES GERNET. Buddhism in Chinese Society: an Economic History from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries (trans. by Franciscus Verellen). New York: Columbia University Press, 1995. xvii, 441 pp. US$21.00, paper.

GREGORY M. PFLUGFELDER. Cartographies of Desire: male‐male Sexuality in Japanese Discourse, 1600–1950. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. xi, 399 pp. US$45.00, hardcover.

GAIL HERSHATTER. Dangerous Pleasures: prostitution and Modernity in Twentieth Century Shanghai. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. xii, 591 pp. 26 b/w illustrations, 6 tables. US$18.95, paper.

TSERING SHAKYA. The Dragon in the Land of Snows: a History of Modern Tibet since 1947. No location given: Columbia University Press, 1999. xxix, 574 pp. US$29.95, paper.

J. E. HOARE. Embassies in the East: the Story of the British and their Embassies in China, Japan and Korea from 1859 to the Present. Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1999. xvi, 238 pp. £40.00, hardcover.

PADMASIRI DE SILVA. Environmental Philosophy and Ethics in Buddhism. London: Macmillan Press, 1998. xv, 195 pp. A$69.95, hardcover.

ROB GOODFELLOW. The Green Iguana, and Other Short Stories (cartoons by Weldon Neville). Wollongong: Kang Djoko, 1999. 96 pp. A$20.00, paper.

GAO MINGLU (ed). Inside Out: new Chinese Art. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 223 pp. US$29.95, paper.

EVELYN S. RAWSKI. The Last Emperors: a Social History of Qing Imperial Institutions. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. xii, 481 pp. 10 b/w illustrations, 3 line figures, 3 maps, 18 tables. US$45.00, hardcover.

RANA MITTER. The Manchurian Myth: nationalism, Resistance, and Collaboration in Modern China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000. xi, 295pp. US$45.00, hardcover.

KATSUICHI HONDA. The Nanjing Massacre: a Japanese Journalist Confronts Japan's National Shame (ed. Frank Gibney, trans. Karen Sandness). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1999. 400 pp. Photographs, map, index. US$68.95, hardcover; US$25.95, paper.

E. BRUCE BROOKS and A. TAEKO BROOKS (eds). The Original Analects: sayings of Confucius and His Successors. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. x, 342 pp. US$34.00, hardcover.

ALEX MCKAY (ed). Pilgrimage in Tibet. Richmond, UK: Curzon Press, 1998. xi, 228 pp. £35.00, hardcover.

LISA RAPHALS. Sharing the Light: representations of Women and Virtue in Early China. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 348 pp. US$21.95, paper.

LING HUPING. Surviving on the Gold Mountain: a History of Chinese American Women and Their Lives. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998. 252 pp. US$19.95, paper.

DENNIS HIROTA (ed). Toward a Contemporary Understanding of Pure Land Buddhism: creating a Shin Buddhist Theology in a Religiously Plural World. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000. ix, 257 pp. US$21.95, paper.

WENDY LARSON. Women and Writing in Modern China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998. 267 pp. Notes, bibliography, index. US$51.00, hardcover; US$19.95, paper.

BURTON WATSON (trans). The Zen Teachings of Master Lin‐Chi: a Translation of the Lin‐chi Lu. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999. xxxii, 140 pp. US$18.00, paper.     

Girls' friendships, ‘distinctive individuality’ and socio‐spatial practices of (dis)identification

This paper investigates girls' friendships (aged 14–15) at Hilltop school in England. Through the use of multi‐locational participant observation this paper identifies the significance of schoolgirl friendship in the production and contestation of femininity and compulsory heterosexuality. This paper focuses on one friendship group known as the ‘alternative’ girls. This paper illustrates how these young women invoke a discourse of ‘distinctive individuality’ (Muggleton, 2000 Muggleton D (2000) Inside Subculture: The Postmodern Meaning of Style Oxford: Berg  [Google Scholar]) in order to produce inclusionary and exclusionary boundaries of friendship. Central to an understanding of these friendships are the complex spatialities of young women's processes of (dis)identification (Skeggs, 1997 Skeggs B (1997) Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable London: Sage  [Google Scholar]).