James Elkins

The idea of close reading is fundamental in art history and literary criticism. This essay is about the coherence of the idea in art history and in some archaeology.

A series of seven books, intended as barometers of the current state of art theory on seven different subjects. This site includes the Series Preface and Series Afterword.

Art Criticism (an encyclopedia entry, written for the Grove Dictionary of Art, and interestingly censored by them). It's a survey of major theories of art criticism.

Three anthologies are planned, in Russian, Spanish, and German. Links will be added here as the books appear.

Is "art history" the name of a discipline, or an area of interest, that is practiced throughout the world? Or is it a Western interest, currently spreading along with capitalism?

A book about the hypnotic attraction of oil and tempera: why painters love paint, even before the painting is half-finished.

A book on the principal theories of modernism and postmodernism, considered in terms of how they divide up the past two centuries.

A book about the kinds of images that are made and studied throughout the university, not just in the arts and humanities.