Transgressions

Since the mid-19th century artists have compulsively rejected received ideas in order to test and subvert morality, law, society, art itself. But what happens when all boundaries have been crossed, all taboos broken, all limits violated? "Transgressions" addresses this controversial subject. Anthony Julius traces its history from the outraged response to Manet's "Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" to the scandal caused by the Royal Academy's "Sensation" exhibition a century-and-a-half later. Throughout the book, supported by the work of such artists as Marcel Duchamp, the Chapman brothers, Andres Serrano, Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George, Paul McCarthy, Jeff Koons, Hans Haacke and Anselm Kiefer, Julius shows how the modern period has been characterized by three kinds of transgressive art: an art that perverts established art rules; an art that defiles the beliefs and sentiments of its audience; and an art that challenges and disobeys the rules of the state. The evidence assembled, Julius concludes his dissection of the landscapes of contemporary art by posing some important questions: what is art's future, when its boundary-exceeding, taboo-breaking endeavours become the norm?; and is anything of value lost when we submit to art's violations?