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In 2003 the Henry Moore Institute launched a new series, Subject/Object: New Studies in Sculpture, published with Ashgate, which expands upon the conventional historical frameworks in which sculpture is seen. We have become familiar with the notion that sculpture has moved into the ‘expanded field’, but this field has remained remarkably faithful to defining sculpture on its own terms. Sculpture can be distinct, but it is rarely autonomous. For too long studied apart, within a monographic or survey format, sculpture demands to be integrated with the other histories of which it is a part. In the interests in representing recent moves in this direction, this series provides a forum for the publication and stimulation of new research examining sculpture’s relationship with the world around it, with other disciplines, and other material contexts. The series embraces papers developed out of conferences initiated at the Henry Moore Institute, as well as looking elsewhere for new work which similarly expands the context for sculpture studies.

The word 'iconoclasm' is most often used in relation to sculpture, because it is sculptures that most visibly bear witness to physical damage. But damage can also be invisible, and the actions of iconoclasm can be subtle and varying. Iconoclastic acts include the addition of objects and accessories, as well as their removal, or may be represented in text or imagery that never materially affects the original object.

This book brings together a collection of essays each of which fundamentally questions the meaning of the word iconoclasm as a descriptive category. Each contribution examines the impact of iconoclastic acts on different representational forms, and assesses the development and historical implications of these various destructive and transformative behaviours.

Contents: Introduction, Stacy Boldrick and Richard Clay; What does iconoclasm create? what does preservation destroy? reflections on iconoclasm in East Asia, Fabio Rambelli and Eric Reinders; Attacks on automata and eviscerated sculptures, Aura Satz; Iconoclasm and consumption: or, household management according to Thomas Cromwell, Matthew Hunter; Iconoclasm, the commodity, and the art of painting, Charles Ford; Bouchardon's statue of Louis XV: iconoclasm and the transformation of signs, Richard Clay; 'Wyatt the destroyer': a vandal at Salisbury Cathedral?, Alexandrina Buchanan; Clastic icons: prints taken from broken or reassembled blocks in some 'popular prints' of the Western tradition, Tom Gretton; Making sense of iconoclasm: popular responses to the destruction of religious images in revolutionary Mexico, Adrian Bantjes; Surrealism in the Bronze Age: statuephobia and the efficacy of metaphorical iconoclasm, Simon Baker; Sturm auf das stadtbild: on the treatment of Wilhelminian architectural decoration in the 20th century, Hans Georg Hiller von Gaertringen; 'Idols in stone' or empty pedestals? debating revolutionary iconoclasm in the post-Soviet transition, Polly Jones; Hermetic huts and modern state: the politics of iconoclasm in West Africa, Ramon Sarró; Select bibliography; Index.