James Elkins
News:
Latest book: What Heaven Looks Like.
Next up: a massive textbook with Oxford Press, co-authored with Erna Fiorentini, called Visual Worlds. It should be out (after 7 years of work!) in 2020.
Also in 2020: my summary of the state of art writing around the world, called The Impending Single History of Art: North Atlantic Art History and its Alternatives. To be published by de Gruyter.
Passed the 300,000 word mark on my novel. Writing every day! It has illustrations; some are posted on Instagram.
Please use the contact form to schedule lectures, studio visits, or seminars. See Lectures page for my travel schedule.
Latest uploads:
The book Why Are Our Pictures Puzzles?; the book How to Use Your Eyes; and an essay on the complicity between torture and formal analysis. (There is also a website with reviews of contemporary piano music.)
Live Writing Projects:
I am experimenting with writing live on the internet. These texts update live, and you can contribute to them & be thanked when the book is published. (1) What is Interesting Writing in Art History?, (2) Writing with Images. Thanks everyone for contributing!
On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art
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Religion has a "strange" place in art because work that subscribes to a major religion is not often accepted in the international art market.
Emil Nolde's Ruleless Color
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On the German Expressionist Emil Nolde, and his use of color, which was neither entirely unnatural nor abritrary.
What Does Peirce's Sign System Have to Say to Art History?
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An essay on the overuse, or misuse, of Charles Sanders Peirce's sign system in art history.
Farewell to Visual Studies
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A book on the state and history of visual culture studies around the world.
Beyond the Aesthetic and the Anti-Aesthetic
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A book on the impasse in art theory, between modernist aesthetics and postmodern politics.
What do Artists Know?
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A book on what artists are taught, and what artistic knowledge might be.
What is an Image?
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A comprehensive look at the history of theories about the nature of pictures and images.
Art and Globalization
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- Parent Category: Writing
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A comprehensive look at the spread of art history, theory, and criticism around the world.
