ARTHIST 590 Art Historical Methods (main)

Working : researching, interviewing, writing - Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Caro gives us a glimpse into his own life and work.

Keith Moxey argues that the discipline of art history has been too attached to interpreting works of art based on a teleological categorization--demonstrating how each work influences the next as part of a linear sequence--which he sees as tied to Western notions of modernity.

Carlo Ginzburg places historical knowledge in a long tradition of cognitive practices and shows how a research strategy based on reading clues and traces embedded in the historical record reveals otherwise hidden information.

Mary K. Coffey revises traditional accounts of Mexican muralism by describing how a radical art movement was transformed into official culture, ultimately becoming a tool of state propaganda.

Humor and Violence examines the rich history of portraying Europeans in Central African art in images. Z. S. Strother contends that the dialectic of humor and violence reveals deep insights into the psychology of power and resistance.

Sarah Vowell exposes the glorious conundrums of American history and culture.

This exquisite biography of an idea is about the improbable foundations of creative human endeavor.