With bracing clarity, Elkins explores why images are taken to be more intricate and hard to describe in the 20th century than they had been in any previous century. 50 illustrations.

James Elkins is Professor of Art History, Theory and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the author of many books, including What PaintingIs (Routledge, 1998) and The Object Stares Back: On theNature of Seeing (1996).

INTRODUCTION: MUTILATED FIRE UNITE PART 1 CONSIDERING THINGS 1 THE EVIDENCE OF EXCESS 2 WHAT COUNTS AS COMPLEXITY? PART 2 STAYING CALM 3 HOW TO SOLVE PICTURE PUZZLES 4 AN AMBILOGY OF PAINTED MEANINGS 5 ON MONSTROUSLY AMBIGUOUS PAINTINGS 6 CALMING THE DELIRIUM OF INTERPRETATION PART 3 LOSING CONTROL 7 HIDDEN IMAGES: CRYPTOMORPHS, ANAMORPHS, AND ALEAMORPHS 8 THE BEST WORK OF TWENTIETH-CENTURY ART HISTORY 9 ENVOI: ON MEANINGLESSNESS