Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-242) and index.

Against reductionism : the intrinsic significance of the image -- Figure, plane, and frame : the phenomenology of pictorial space -- Pictorial representation and self-consciousness -- The presence of the painter -- Sculpture and transcendence -- The logic and phenomenology of abstract art -- Conceptualism and designated art -- The phenomenology of photography -- Ontology and aesthetics of digital art -- The body of architecture -- Conclusion : the future of art history and art practices.

"Why are the visual arts so important and what is it that makes their forms significant? Countering recent interpretations of meaning that understand visual artworks on the model of literary texts, Paul Crowther formulates a theory of the visual arts based on what their creation achieves both cognitively and aesthetically. He develops a phenomenology that emphasizes how visual art gives unique aesthetic expression to factors that are basic to perception. At the same time, he shows how various artistic media embody these factors in distinctive ways. Attentive to both the creation and reception of all major visual art forms (picturing, sculpture, architecture, and photography), Phenomenology of the Visual Arts also addresses complex idioms, including abstract, conceptual, and digital art."--Jacket.