Critical Terms for Art History

by Robert S. Nelson, Richard Shiff (Editor)

The nature of the visual has, over the past decade, moved to the center of debates in the humanities. No longer simply the study of timeless masterpieces, art history as a discipline is now addressing some of the most basic questions about cultural production, questions such as how images function and how expectations and social factors mediate what we see. The new scope of art history has required a major expansion and reassessment of methods and terminology.

Edited by Robert Nelson and Richard Shiff, Critical Terms for Art History is both an exposition and a demonstration of contested terms from the current art historical vocabulary. In individual essays, scholars examine the history and use of these terms by grounding their discussions in single works of art, reading each work through current debates and methods. This instructive combination of theory and practice allows readers to examine the terms as they are seeing them employed. In its wide representation of contemporary discourse, Critical Terms for Art History is a comprehensive effort to map historical and theoretical debates over the visual environment.

Like its companion, Critical Terms for Literary Study, this book will prove an invaluable resource both for those beginning to learn about the visual theory and for scholars and historians.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, Grad School, School, History

380 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

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There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name

Reviews

[Syd Amir · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب حاصل نوشته های جمعی از افراد صاحب نام در حوزه ی تاریخ هنر است. نویسندگان سعی دارند تا مفاهیمی را شرح دهند که به درک و تحلیل هنر و تاریخ هنر معاصر کمک کند
در این طرح مفاهیم نو اتفاقا بدیل های دیگری نیز برای تاریخ هنر آنگونه که تا کنون نوشته شده طرح میشود .

مقالات بیش از این که یک مرور بر ادبیات موضوع باشند تحلیلی از شرایط موجود تاریخ هنر در آن حوزه را ارائه می کنند. گاهی پیش بینی هایی و گاهی هم پیشنهاد هایی برای مطالعات بیشتر.

اینطور به نظر میرسد که خواندن این کتاب برای کسانی که میخواهند از جریانات معاصر تاریخ هنر، موضوعاتف چالش ها و گرایش های اخیر مطلع باشند مفید باشد.

از بخش های کتاب ک ب کار من امد
بازنمایی - تصویر و متن - نشانه - وانموده و ... بود

[Bella]

I fear I will be logging many textbooks/ journals in the coming months. But I need my goodread friends to know I haven’t stopped reading. Could you imagine?!!

[Srđan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Prvo, ovo nije knjiga za čitanje odjednom, zbog kompleksnosti i prisustva 33 autora, bez ujednačenog stila pisanja. Meni je bilo značajno da čitam o određenim kritičkim terminima koji su mi trebali tokom i posle studija i savetujem svima da termine tako i koriste, prema potrebi.

Neujednačenost doprinosi tome da su neki termini obrađeni skoro pa školski, a drugi bez zadržavanja na uvodu, pa upadamo često u neke profesionalne diskusije koje mogu biti više ili manje upotrebljive. Ne ulazeći u raspravu zašto su se ovi termini našli u knjizi a neki drugi ne, neki eseji mislim da uopšte nisu upotrebljivi, ne zbog teme, nego zbog autora koji nisu komunikativni (odnosno njihov stil pisanja). Bolji eseji odišu informisanošću, vođenjem čitaoca kroz relevantne diskusije, uz konstantnu vezu sa umetnošću, i novim saznanjima.

Knjiga nije uvod, već pregled, koji je vezan za određeno vreme - prvo izdanje 1996, drugo 2003. - i geografiju - ogromna većina autora su iz SAD, a umetnička dela i teorije vezane za umetnost zapadne tradicije. Danas bi, verujem, ponovno izdanje pretrpelo dosta promena, oslikavajući stanje struke današnjice, što nije ništa loše (štaviše, voleo bih da pročitam to novo za sada imaginarno izdanje). Svakako, termini su relevantni, bilo tradicionalni ili noviji, uz zadršku vremena nastanka knjige.

Ukratko, čitati po potrebi, uz istraživanje referenci.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't find all the articles equally informative and some seemed redundant. Some are, however, a really good, precise and short introduction to important terms that will always appear within the field of art history. Definitely worth a read for anyone studying art history.

[Martin Ridgway · Rating 2 out of 5]

This can be quite unhelpful. The editors have commissioned some essays to illustrate their "critical terms". But some of them illustrate the term by using it rather than defining it clearly - so you have to fight through some dense essays to work out what they're trying to illustrate / define. Some are good and successful; some just fail.

[Andy Dávila · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this book would help explain many of the terms I come across often in art history and in general, but many times I was actually left more confused, even after having studied art history for five years

many times, I had to spend an hour looking up a different term used in an essay, and figuring out the history of the school of philosophy that produced this term, only to kind of begin to grasp the term. and this was’nt even the term the essay was about

is this what academia is(?)

Although you will be able to pick out some helpful passages for future research, I think doing some online research on these terms may be more fruitful

[Zoe Deacon · Rating 5 out of 5]

partially developed my frontal lobe

[Laura Motush · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although this is not a book I would have students read as a whole, chapters, as applicable, can be assigned readings that dig deeper into art terms and history. It is a good reference for how these terms have evolved, but I would only used this in a more advanced art class or as a reference for myself for my teachings.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difficult read, however, thought provoking.

[Kali Bazan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for intro classes where you need to introduce terms important to the historiography of art.

[Mills College Library]

701.4 C934 2003