The Art of History

Reviews / Votes

This is a perceptive study of the forthright work of contemporary African American women painters, sculptors, photographers, and installation artists....Why, she asks, has black art remained marginalized while black music and literature thrive? Collins concludes that images, especially portraits, possess a uniquely volatile power, and that the disregard of black art is the result of the ways slavery, ongoing racism, and class conflict have politicized the depictions of African Americans, especially women. (Booklist) The Art of History addresses the paradox that African American studies largely neglect the history of art and works by serious visual artists. This contemporary perspective is one of the strongest aspects of the publication, affording insightful analysis of work by a number of exciting artists, accessible and engaging. (Library Journal) This important study is the first to confront head-on the avoidance of the visual that has plagued black studies in the United States. The Art of History opens the often hermetic world of black visual culture to a much broader realm in which questions central to contemporary feminism, black studies, and cultural theory are brought to bear. - Judith Wilson (University of California, Irvine) The Art of History is an important book that expands the significance of visual culture to African American studies debates. It provides cogent and insightful explorations of the work of contemporary African American women artists. Scholars and general readers alike are sure to be compelled by this original and innovative study. - Valerie Smith (author of Not Just Race, Not Just Gender: Black Feminist Readings) A compact and complex publication, The Art of History addresses the paradox that African American studies, while preoccupied with visual culture, largely neglects the history of art and works by serious visual artists...accessible and engaging...authoritative and convincing text. (Choice)