Social History of Art Books

New and Published Books

1. An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Art

   By Michelle Facos

   Using the tools of the "new" art history (feminism, Marxism, social context, etc.) An Introduction to Nineteenth-Century Art offers a richly textured, yet clear and logical, introduction to nineteenth-century art and culture. This textbook will provide readers with a basic historical framework of...

   Published March 22nd 2011 by Routledge
2. On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art

   By James Elkins

   Can contemporary art say anything about spirituality? John Updike calls modern art "a religion assembled from the fragments of our daily life," but does that mean that contemporary art is spiritual? What might it mean to say that the art you make expresses your spiritual belief? On the Strange...

   Published September 3rd 2004 by Routledge
3. Pictures and Tears

   A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings

   By James Elkins

   Art Does art leave you cold? And is that what it's supposed to do? Or is a painting meant to move you to tears? Hemingway was reduced to tears in the midst of a drinking bout when a painting by James Thurber caught his eye. And what's bad about that? In Pictures and Tears, art historian James...

   Published February 22nd 2004 by Routledge
4. Stories of Art

   By James Elkins

   Stories of Art is James Elkins's intimate history of art. Concise and original, this engaging book is an antidote to the behemoth art history textbooks from which we were all taught. As he demonstrates so persuasively, there can never be one story of art. Cultures have their own stories - about...

   Published September 26th 2002 by Routledge
5. Race-ing Art History

   Critical Readings in Race and Art History

   Edited by Kymberly N. Pinder

   Published August 8th 2002 by Routledge
6. Albrecht Durer

   A Guide to Research

   By Jane Campbell Hutchison

   Series: Artist Resource Manuals

   Hutchison's book is a complete guide on Durer and the research on his work, his historical import and his aesthetic legacy....

   Published August 2nd 2000 by Routledge
7. Why Are Our Pictures Puzzles?

   On the Modern Origins of Pictorial Complexity

   By James Elkins

   With bracing clarity, James Elkins explores why images are taken to be more intricate and hard to describe in the twentieth century than they had been in any previous century. Why Are Our Pictures Puzzles? uses three models to understand the kinds of complex meaning that pictures are thought to...

   Published January 27th 1999 by Routledge