In this book, Mark M. Smith, a history professor specialising in sensory history, compiled ten recent essays exploring the diverse ways in which smells have shaped humans’ experience, beliefs and practices. Opening with a discussion of the foundational work of Alain Corbin and the rise of modern sensibility, the collection then takes the reader from the making of Christianity to the stench of ancient Rome, from the discovery of North America to Victorian England, from the politicisation of smells in racist discourses to enquiries in the realm of art and aesthetics.
Although it fails to address non-Western perspectives, Smell and History is a relatively comprehensive and easy introduction for anyone who is curious about the subject – but not curious enough to read a dozen books from cover to cover!
Smell and History: A Reader – Mark M. Smith (ed.), Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2019, 264 pages, $26.99
This review has been published in Nez, the olfactory magazine – #08 – Addictive Substances. This issue is available on www.nez-editions.us for North America and on the Auparfum Ship for other countries.
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Clara Muller
Historienne de l’art, critique d'art et commissaire d’exposition indépendante , Clara Muller mène des recherches sur les enjeux de la respiration comme modalité de perception dans l'art contemporain ainsi que sur les diverses pratiques artistiques employant les odeurs comme médium ou sujet. Outre un certain nombre de publications des éditions Nez, elle contribue à des catalogues d’exposition, monographies d’artistes et ouvrages universitaires sur le sujet de l’art olfactif, tels que Les Dispositifs olfactifs au musée (Nez éditions, 2018) ou Olfactory Art and the Political in an Age of Resistance (Routledge, 2021). www.claramuller.fr
Art historian, art critic and independent curator, Clara Muller pursues research on breathing as a mode of perception in contemporary art, as well as on the various art practices using smells as a medium or a topic. In addition to a number of publications by Nez éditions, she contributes to exhibition catalogues, artist monographs and academic publications on the subject of olfactory art, such as Les Dispositifs olfactifs au musée (Nez editions, 2018) or Olfactory Art and the Political in an Age of Resistance (Routledge, 2021). www.claramuller.fr
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