Art Criticism - The State University of New York
Art Criticism - The State University of New York
Art Criticism - The State University of New York
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history must itself be rethought in order to introduce approaches that might<br />
better lead students towards critical engagement with their own visual culture.<br />
Reformatting the survey in such ways is therefore not only an act <strong>of</strong> pedagogical<br />
reform but a political move as well; it requires that we teachers, even as we<br />
introduce themes <strong>of</strong> study like sexual politics and pictorial mimesis, must give<br />
up our institutional role as the final jury and judge in matters <strong>of</strong> art-historical<br />
truth and openly celebrate the creativity and autonomy <strong>of</strong> student thought.<br />
This is not easy to do; for we have been deeply socialized into imposing our<br />
authority. But the well-being <strong>of</strong> our students demands that we try.<br />
Notes<br />
I Joseph Beuys, "Not Just a Few Are Called, But Everyone," in <strong>Art</strong> in <strong>The</strong>ory 1900-<br />
1990: An Anthology <strong>of</strong> Changing Ideas, eds. Charles Harrison and Paul Wood<br />
(Oxford and Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992), p.892.<br />
2 For example, see <strong>The</strong> <strong>Art</strong> Journal 54 (Fall 1995), the entire issue <strong>of</strong> which is on<br />
"Rethinking the Introductory <strong>Art</strong> History Survey."<br />
3 <strong>The</strong>se themes reflect art history's ongoing self-reflexive "crisis." For a sampling <strong>of</strong><br />
such concerns, see the theoretical and methodological essays thematically<br />
organized in each issue <strong>of</strong> <strong>The</strong> <strong>Art</strong> Bulletin between December 1994 and<br />
September 1997.<br />
4 An earlier and shorter version <strong>of</strong> this essay was presented in a panel session titled<br />
"Wake Up!: Prompting Student Input in <strong>Art</strong> History Survey Courses" at the<br />
Southeastern College <strong>Art</strong> Conference held in Richmond, VA, October 1997.<br />
5 See G. W. F. Hegel, Phenomenology <strong>of</strong> Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford<br />
UP, 1977), pp.104ff. I borrow the felicitous term "integrity'~ from Charles<br />
Taylor, Hegel, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1975), pp.l48ff. "Integrity" is an<br />
interpretive rendering in English <strong>of</strong> Hegel's phrase Gewij3enheit seiner selbst '<br />
(certainty <strong>of</strong> self). In the necessarily schematic presentation that follows, I shall<br />
be eliding contemporary distinctions among and debates about self-confidence,<br />
self-esteem, and self-respect as they pertain to integrity <strong>of</strong> self and practices <strong>of</strong><br />
mutual recognition.<br />
6 Here I am invoking Marx's critical re-assessment <strong>of</strong> Hegel's notion <strong>of</strong>labor.<br />
Whereas in his account <strong>of</strong> the master/slave relationship Hegel stresses that the<br />
slave recognizes himself in his labor even as his work is done on behalf <strong>of</strong> the<br />
master, Marx emphasizes that modern work under the conditions <strong>of</strong> capital and<br />
wage labor is "estranged" and "alienated"; see Karl Marx, <strong>The</strong> Economic and<br />
Philosophic Manuscripts <strong>of</strong> 1844, trans. Martin Milligan (<strong>New</strong> <strong>York</strong>: International,<br />
1964), pp.106-119.<br />
7 This is a Foucaultian manner <strong>of</strong> restating certain conditions <strong>of</strong> mutual recognition.<br />
On the power embodied in interactions, see Michel Foucault, "<strong>The</strong> Subject and<br />
Power" in Hubert L. Dreyfus and Paul Rabinow, Michel Foucault: Beyond<br />
Structuralism and Hermeneutics, 2nd ed., (Chicago: <strong>University</strong> <strong>of</strong> Chicago<br />
116<br />
<strong>Art</strong> <strong>Criticism</strong>