In response to the Harvard Art Museums' ReFrame Initiative and the publication of the "Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery" report, the author reevaluates the display and discussion of images of enslaved people in ancient Greek art in the museum gallery. Ancient Greece relied heavily on the labor and crafts produced by enslaved people,…

As museums strive to become more welcoming and accessible, house museums occupy complex positions. The Frick Collection's scale is more intimate than that of many art museums; the general stability of the installation renders the collection more familiar, and the taste on display is personal and idiosyncratic rather than authoritative. As…

This essay will discuss the need for the humanities to address visual culture studies as part of its interdisciplinary mission in today's university. Although mostly unnoticed in recent debates in the humanities over historical and theoretical frameworks, the relatively new field of visual culture has emerged as a corrective to a growing…

This study of Egyptian aesthetics interprets the historical and political context of artistic discourse in the early twentieth century. In a period marked by intense struggle between landlords and rural laborers during the Depression and World War II, the author compares the rise of the Egyptian Surrealists, from the late 1930s, and the…

Critical art histories have strategically contributed to the constitution of visual culture studies as an interdisciplinary field that interprets the mediations of mass-produced imagery in contemporary culture. This article advocates for an anti-historicist perspective of art historical knowledge connected to cultural analysis and centered on the…

This book will be an original and indispensable resource for all who believe in the importance of art in the wider educational realm. Framing the recent "educational turn" in the arts within a broad historical and social context, this anthology raises fundamental questions about how and what should be taught in an era of distributive…

"Art and Social Justice Education" offers inspiration and tools for educators to craft critical, meaningful, and transformative arts education curriculum and arts integration projects. The images, descriptive texts, essays, and resources are grounded within a clear social justice framework and linked to ideas about culture as commons. Essays and a…

Argues that in an art world dominated by critical theory the contribution of painting to society and education is not firmly established. Reviews challenges from critical theory to painting and constructs an alternative relationship between them. Articulates how concepts in critical theory are informed and extended by painting. (DSK)

Reviews two curriculum frameworks--one developed by Elliot Eisner and Elizabeth Vallance and the second by Henry A. Giroux, Anthony N. Penna, and William F. Pinar--as a context for reconsidering conflicting notions about nature and purpose of art teaching. Discusses discipline-based art education (DBAE), suggesting that controversies over…

Addresses issues that might be raised in the study of art history from a critical theory perspective. Suggests that, in view of contemporary environmental and social concerns, Neolithic art would be of particular interest to students as would the possibility of having a society in which neither sex was dominant. (KM)

Argues that, far from being a dangerous and destructive break with the past, various factions of postmodernism actually parallel modernist beliefs. Both movements share groups whose creative revisionists approach seeks a constructive accommodation. Similar parallel destructive approaches also exist. (MJP)

Maintains that visual images of people contribute to how people perceive themselves and others. Explores ramifications of this under social conditions where pornography is evident and accessible. Examines definitions of pornography. Applies critical theory to art education, stressing that art educators should identify and critically study artworks…