Visual Studies: A Skeptical Introduction

A critical introduction to visual studies that describes the field and then argues that it should look at more than it does.

Elkins first gives a road map of the field, setting out its major concerns and its principal theoretical sources. He then turns to what the field leaves out: why look only at the same handful of theorists, and why exclude non-Western art or the wealth of scientific images? The chapters are “What is Visual Studies?”, “The Subjects of Visual Studies”, “Ten Ways to Make Visual Studies More Difficult” and “What is Visual Literacy?”, followed by a short envoi. Routledge published it in 2003, with 40 black-and-white illustrations.

Elkins is Professor of Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His other Routledge titles include Stories of Art, How to Use Your Eyes, Pictures and Tears and What Painting Is, and this book is the one in which he turns his attention to the discipline of image study itself.