Name: Why You Don't Like Art History
Uploaded: 2018-10-06T14:25:09.000Z
Duration: 8 min 45 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

If it's happened to you, you
know what I'm talking about--

of flat images on a
screen, names, and dates,

If you've had a great art
history class, I'm so glad.

And if you've had a
single art history class,

been watching the new series
"Civilizations," which

takes a wide view in
talking about the beginnings

It's a follow-up to a
series the BBC aired in 1969

called "Civilization," singular,
where art historian Kenneth

Clark outlined a personal and
very Eurocentric account of,

He wasn't telling the history of
art per se, but what he called,

quote, "all the life
giving human activities we

of civilization and nearly
wiped out civilization entirely.

But he does clarify
that great works of art

Now, this is problematic
from a number of angles

But people loved it, in
Europe and in the US.

They felt empowered to
understand cultural history,

had watching parties,
and bought the book.

Afterward, there was even an
uptick in cultural tourism.

a much more global history
of human artistic production,

we've discovered in caves,
and skipping around the world,

But rather than promoting
an understanding

of "civilization" fighting
to hold barbarians at bay,

the new series emphasizes
how cultures around the world

evolving, and borrowing,
and exchanging ideas.

as well, telling us of
the flourishing of art

We're told of Rembrandt's
interest in Mughal art

to tell the story of influence
moving in one direction.

But here, we see the
tides flowing both ways,

This shift from civilization
to civilizations

reflects a wider transformation
in the way art history

Now you can take classes
not only about art history,

but classes about how
we teach art history,

or methodology, a word I
hoped I'd never say publicly.

formally, analyzing
only what you can see--

and what those symbols meant
when the work was created.

researching the story and
intentions of the person

are called critical theories to
better understand your subject,

like psychoanalytic theories
seeking out the subconscious

or Marxist theory looking at the
economic and social conditions

Postcolonial theory, you'll
be surprised to learn,

seeks to understand a
work through the colonial

or imperial forces that
might have shaped it.

The new "Civilizations" doesn't
shy away from these readings,

pointing out European artists'
interest in Islamic culture

as a source of the exotic, often
concocting scenes and history

as whole cloth, fantasies,
propagating stereotypes

rather than reflecting
anything based in reality.

We can also look at the ways
race, gender, and sexualities

have and have not been
represented in art

have been excluded
from our history books

or were prevented from
making work and showing it

you can use to look at art
deploying one or many of them

You'll note "Civilizations"
sidesteps the question

by using their amorphous
but now more inclusive term.

There is art, anthropology,
architecture, design,

Subtitles ListPlay Video

Why You Don't Like Art History

ultimately

approach

present

critical