Intro+to+Art+Theory

An introduction to art and its theories is essential for understanding the complex nature of conceptual / Contemporary Art as well as having a basis for which to discuss some of the most important themes that have ever inspired art making. After WWII early postmodern practices exploded onto the art scene, many critics were skeptical. Artists had little knowledge or explanation for what generated the new ideas, whether it be Cold War politics, popular culture and mass media images, or the expansion of the middle class. Modern and Postmodern theories inform Modern and Postmodern practices. The following pages encourage art educators to become familiar with the concepts that not only shape the field we teach, but inform the pedagogical and theoretical foundation of our discipline.

 Concepts Explored in Art Theory  Author / Authority  Reading / Literacy / Texts / Literature / Semiotics / Translations  Subjectivity / Interpretation  Culture: Multiculturalism, Popular Culture, Media Culture  Ideology  History  Space / Time  Posts: Post-modernism, Post-structuralism, Post-colonialism  Differences: Gender, Queer, Race, Class  Agency

Getting Started / Texts  Jeffery Nealon & Susan Searls Giroux: Theory Toolbox: Critical Concepts for the New Humanities (2003)  Cynthia Freeland: Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction (2007)  Cynthia Freeland: But is it Art: An Introduction to Art Theory (2002) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Charles Harrison & Paul Wood: Art in Theory 1900-2000 (2003) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Hal Foster, Rosiland Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois, Benjamin Buchloh: Art Since 1900 (2004) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Kristine Stiles & Peter Selz: Theories & Documents of Contemporary Art (1996) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Zoya Kocur & Simon Leung: Theory in Contemporary Art Since 1985 (2005) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Robert Williams: Art Theory: An Historical Introduction (2004)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Related Readers: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Thomas Docherty: Postmodernism: A Reader (1993) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Simon During: Cultural Studies Reader (2007) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Nicholas Mirzoeff: Visual Culture Reader (2002) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Stephen Duncomb: Cultural Resistance Reader (2002)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Some Necessary Modern Art History Texts: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Charles Baudelaire: The Painter of Modern Life (1863) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Walter Benjamin: The Work of Art in the Mechanical Age of Reproduction (1935) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> Clement Greenberg: Avant-Garde and Kitsch (1939)