Push Me, Pull You: Imaginative, Emotional, Physical, and Spatial Interaction in Late Medieval and Renaissance Art(156 Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions)

Late Medieval and Renaissance art was surprisingly pushy; its architecture demanded that people move through it in prescribed patterns, its sculptures played elaborate games alternating between concealment and revelation, while its paintings charged viewers with imaginatively moving through them. Viewers wanted to interact with artwork in emotional and/or performative ways. This inventive and personal interface between viewers and artists sometimes conflicted with the Church’s prescribed devotional models, and in some cases it complemented them. Artists and patrons responded to the desire for both spontaneous and sanctioned interactions by creating original ways to amplify devotional experiences. The authors included here study the provocation and the reactions associated with medieval and Renaissance art and architecture. These essays trace the impetus towards interactivity from the points of view of their creators and those who used them. Contributors include: Mickey Abel, Alfred Acres, Kathleen Ashley, Viola Belghaus, Sarah Blick, Erika Boeckeler, Robert L.A. Clark, Lloyd DeWitt, Michelle Erhardt, Megan H. Foster-Campbell, Juan Luis González García, Laura D. Gelfand, Elina Gertsman, Walter S. Gibson, Margaret Goehring, Lex Hermans, Fredrika Jacobs, Annette LeZotte, Jane C. Long, Henry Luttikhuizen, Elizabeth Monroe, Scott B. Montgomery, Amy M. Morris, Vibeke Olson, Katherine Poole, Alexa Sand, Donna L. Sadler, Pamela Sheingorn, Suzanne Karr Schmidt, Anne Rudloff Stanton, Janet Snyder, Rita Tekippe, Mark Trowbridge, Mark S. Tucker, Kristen Van Ausdall, Susan Ward.

About the Author :
Sarah Blick, Ph.D. (1994) in Art History, University of Kansas, is Professor of Art History at Kenyon College. Her research focuses on medieval pilgrimage art and English parish churches. She is editor-in-chief of Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture. Laura D. Gelfand, Ph.D. (1994) in Art History, Case Western Reserve University, is Professor of Art History at The University of Akron. She has published widely on the art and architecture of the Northern Renaissance with a particular focus on reception.

Review :
‘’The articles in this anthology represent both well-worn and novel ideas that the authors put to the test in their studies. The variety of subjects and methodologies, as well as each contributor’s conclusions, creates a nicely inclusive model of scholarly inquiry. As such, the project is an excellent example of the types of collaborative scholarship many are now turning to in an attempt to build a more complex understanding of the late middle ages and the early modern period. The matrix assembled here is rich and interesting, and Push Me, Pull You is a welcome addition to the ongoing discourse on lay piety and the role of devotional images, spaces, and objects in late medieval and early modern Europe.’’ John R. Decker, Georgia State University. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 66, No. 2, Summer 2013, p. 604.