James Elkins

An essay on the overuse, or misuse, of Charles Sanders Peirce's sign system in art history.

On the German Expressionist Emil Nolde, and his use of color, which was neither entirely unnatural nor abritrary.

Is "art history" the name of a discipline, or an area of interest, that is practiced throughout the world? Or is it a Western interest, currently spreading along with capitalism?

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

On the confused uses of fractals by artists, and some mathematicians' sense of art: on productive misunderstandings.

A perennially unfinished project: an essay (or a lecture, or a book) giving reason why art historians should practice what they study.

A reply to a very eccentric proposal: that the Venus of Willendorf and associated "Venus" figurines are self-portraits.

A lecture on the limits of historians' acknowledgment of their own involvement and motives in their work.