The Art of Music

A fascinating study of the relationship between music and visual art in a variety of media from around the world

The Art of Music is a handsomely illustrated and rich interdisciplinary look at the mutual influence between music and the visual arts across cultures and eras. The book sheds new light on more familiar artists at the intersection of the visual and the musical, such as Wassily Kandinsky and Arnold Schoenberg, and presents new scholarship on less well-known examples in the arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe, from antique pottery to contemporary video and sound art. Essays consider key works and themes such as synesthesia and other formal and theoretical crossovers, motifs of musicians, and performative and ritual functions of music, musical instruments, and art. With more than 250 color images illustrating works of art in diverse traditions, The Art of Music offers enriching reading for scholars and general audiences alike.

Published in association with the San Diego Museum of Art

Exhibition Schedule:

San Diego Museum of Art
(09/26/15–01/06/16)