d'Aspremont @JdA_IntLaw and De Brabandere @EDBrabandere on The Paintings of International Law

Jean d'Aspremont, University of Manchester School of Law, and University of Amsterdam, and Eric De Brabandere, Leiden University, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, are publishing The Paintings of International Law in International Law's Objects: Emergence, Encounter and Erasure through Object and Image (Hohmann and Joyce eds., Oxford University Press, 2017). Here is the abstract.

Using data drawn from the catalogues of the main publishers of international law books, this short essay focuses on the imagery used in the design of international law books and the way it contributes to the aesthetics of international legal argumentation. This essay zeroes in on the paintings that are reproduced on the cover of international law books with a view to unravelling some of the dynamics of the aesthetics of international legal argumentation. It argues that the greatest driver in the choice for the imagery of a book cover is the game which the author wants to play with the reader. It is argued that authors commonly use the cover page of their international law books, not only to illustrate their work but, more fundamentally, to attract readers into a game where the readers themselves create an explanatory narrative around the book.

Download the essay from SSRN at the link.