James Elkins

There is no such thing as "outsider art" because naive and untrained art has been a traditional accompaniment of modernism since its inception.

An essay on the concept of the sublime in art, rehearsing the history of the postmodern sublime, and calling for a moratorium on its use.

A book about people who have had strong emotional reactions (including crying) looking at paintings, and about the relatively tearless twentieth century.

A brief essay on the sometimes overlooked continuum between the most original work and the most literal copy.

An essay on the relation between Photoshop and the history of art, and a proposal for a book to be called The History of Photoshop.

The idea of close reading is fundamental in art history and literary criticism. This essay is about the coherence of the idea in art history and in some archaeology.

A series of seven books, intended as barometers of the current state of art theory on seven different subjects. This site includes the Series Preface and Series Afterword.

Art Criticism (an encyclopedia entry, written for the Grove Dictionary of Art, and interestingly censored by them). It's a survey of major theories of art criticism.