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!
A book about the concept of the image, with chapters on non-Western concepts, figure and ground, trace, mark, and other fundamental ideas.