Scan barcode
A review by savaging
Gardner's Art Through the Ages by Richard G. Tansey
2.0
Art history is a discipline in crisis.
This text book shows all the seams.
It calls itself "art through the ages." It makes a pretense of being global. What it actually deals with is wealthy-white-male European art up until about 1900. Inside of that narrow lens, it can uphold the pretense of a narrative arc. Movements and developments that build upon each other to create one structure, one tradition. The story is in line with a 'Great Man' view of history that unspools with a certain succession of empires and kings and no need to think about the plebes. Just memorize the dates and you're done.
But everything outside of that one narrative arc haunts the discipline. Frightened, the editors make nods here and there to art happening in other places. They quickly clear their throats and get us back to Europe. But Europe itself is unspooling. When modern art hits, they lose the thread entirely. They become desperate. In the end, they can only huff and puff about the absurdities of "multiculturalism."
Within this story of art's history, art is rooted in conquering. Killing animals and humans. Building empire. Celebrating empire.
Sometimes something tumbles out from the gaps, even here. Small art, old faces, feathers and fur. Usually they call it "the grotesque."
This text book shows all the seams.
It calls itself "art through the ages." It makes a pretense of being global. What it actually deals with is wealthy-white-male European art up until about 1900. Inside of that narrow lens, it can uphold the pretense of a narrative arc. Movements and developments that build upon each other to create one structure, one tradition. The story is in line with a 'Great Man' view of history that unspools with a certain succession of empires and kings and no need to think about the plebes. Just memorize the dates and you're done.
But everything outside of that one narrative arc haunts the discipline. Frightened, the editors make nods here and there to art happening in other places. They quickly clear their throats and get us back to Europe. But Europe itself is unspooling. When modern art hits, they lose the thread entirely. They become desperate. In the end, they can only huff and puff about the absurdities of "multiculturalism."
Within this story of art's history, art is rooted in conquering. Killing animals and humans. Building empire. Celebrating empire.
Sometimes something tumbles out from the gaps, even here. Small art, old faces, feathers and fur. Usually they call it "the grotesque."