James Elkins - School of the Art Institute of Chicago

James Elkins - School of the Art Institute of Chicago
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James Elkins
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Art History, Theory, and Criticism
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Art theory, criticism, art writing. I am posting on experimental contemporary fiction and the future of the novel on Substack,
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Teaching Documents
Videos by James Elkins
11:11
Concepts and Problems in Visual Art,
Lecture C0:
Introduction
Introduction to the series of 70+ videos on the history, theory, and teaching of visual art. See ...
more
Introduction to the series of 70+ videos on the history, theory, and teaching of visual art. See tinyurl.com/lecturesexplanation.
150 views
20:28
Theories and Problems in Visual Art, Lecture C1: Vision and visuality
The concepts of vision, seeing, visuality, and visibility. See tinyurl.com/lecturesexplanation.
124 views
13:07
Concepts and Problems in Visual Art, Lecture C5: Formalism and formal analysis
Introduction to the history of formal analysis and formalism in visual art. See tinyurl.com/lectu...
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Introduction to the history of formal analysis and formalism in visual art. See tinyurl.com/lecturesexplanation.
92 views
20:40
Concepts and Problems in the Visual Arts, Lecture C6: Politics and art
Introduction to the relation between politics and contemporary art. For an explanation of these v...
more
Introduction to the relation between politics and contemporary art. For an explanation of these videos see
324 views
28:44
Concepts and Theories in Visual Art, Lecture C2: The gaze
A review of principal theories of the gaze from the 1970s to the present. See tinyurl.com/lecture...
more
A review of principal theories of the gaze from the 1970s to the present. See tinyurl.com/lecturesexplanation.
96 views
18:50
Concepts and Problems in Visual Art, Lecture C4: Representation and mimesis
Introduction to theories of representation, depiction, denotation, and mimesis. See tinyurl.com/l...
more
Introduction to theories of representation, depiction, denotation, and mimesis. See tinyurl.com/lecturesexplanation.
95 views
21:46
Concepts and Problems in Visual Art, Lecture C3: Is visual art different from language?
Inroduction to theories of the relation between language and visual objects. See tinyurl.com/lect...
more
Inroduction to theories of the relation between language and visual objects. See tinyurl.com/lecturesexplanation.
310 views
Drafts by James Elkins
Is There Anything Beyond Close Reading
A short essay on the book "Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century" (Princeton 2025). I'm inte...
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A short essay on the book "Close Reading for the Twenty-First Century" (Princeton 2025). I'm interested in what counts as higher or advanced literacy, and this book offers some intriguing possibilities.
Why Can't Novels Include Mathematics?
A polemical essay on Substack about the curious fact that even complex, postmodern novels don't i...
more
A polemical essay on Substack about the curious fact that even complex, postmodern novels don't include mathematics, science, or engineering. Even Cormac MacCarthy's "Stella Maris" paraphrases physics. Actual mathematics and physics can be difficult, but given the last hundred years of experimental writing, which has often privileged juxtapositions of genre, experimental forms, "inexpressive" prose, and difficulty, it's not clear why science and mathematics are still kept at arm's length in fiction.
Weak in Comparison to Dreams, chapter 6
Weak in Comparison to Dreams
, 2023
These are uncorrected reader's copy proofs of an experimental novel I have coming out next winter...
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These are uncorrected reader's copy proofs of an experimental novel I have coming out next winter. It contains photos, charts, music, and diagrams. This excerpt is a chapter involving diagrams: first a real one (seen by the characters in the novel) and later an imaginary one (visualized by a character). I don't know any precedents for this, and I'd be interested to hear what everyone thinks. There are other excerpts from the book posted under "Drafts."
What is the Real World in Murnane? The Case of the Antipodean Archive of Horse Racing
This is a study of what counts as "fiction" in the work of Gerald Murnane. I think Murnane has on...
more
This is a study of what counts as "fiction" in the work of Gerald Murnane. I think Murnane has one of the strangest senses of "fiction," the "real world," and "imagination" of any writer. His explanations of those terms have involved his file of imaginary horse races. If he wasn't so often mentioned as a candidate for the Nobel, this might not matter: but I think it's a category error to think of his work as postmodern fiction or metafiction.
A version is online (see the opening line of the essay) and all comments are welcome there.
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Murnane's files on imaginary horse races, known as the Antipodean Archive, may be published, showcasing an extensive creative endeavor.
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How to do the world's longest art critique
World's longest art critique!
In 2020, a group based at the School of the Art Institute in Chicag...
more
World's longest art critique!
In 2020, a group based at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago spent a total of 16 hours on a single painting, this one, by Deanna Miera.
The 16-hour format was a special project: the idea was to talk until no one could think of any additional plausible meaning. When this works it's an amazing experience: you see how the meanings of a work of art aren't infinite, and how we all think along well-worn paths even when we imagine we're all unique.
The document I'm linking here shows the results, and also includes guidelines to do your own totally masochistic, annoying, boring, and possibly totally revelatory long-form critique.
Books by James Elkins
The End of Diversity in Art Historical Writing: Problems raised by the fact that English is the lingua franca of art history
The End of Diversity North Atlantic Art History and Its Alternatives
This is from a book on forms of art historical writing worldwide. This section is on the fact tha...
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This is from a book on forms of art historical writing worldwide. This section is on the fact that English has become the common language for art historical conferences and even publications. This raises questions not only of continuing Eurocentrism (or America-centrism), but also of limitations on careers caused by relative lack of facility in reading, writing, and speaking.
The book is available on Amazon.
Visual Worlds: Chapter 4, "The Gaze" (different forms of the "theory of the gaze")
Visual Worlds: Looking, Images, Visual Disciplines
, 2020
This is a chapter from the book Visual Worlds (Oxford, 2020), a textbook on forms of visual pract...
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This is a chapter from the book Visual Worlds (Oxford, 2020), a textbook on forms of visual practice in art, science, medicine, the miltary, law, and other fields. The book is available on Amazon.
In it we survey several principal forms of the theory of the gaze, including psychoanalytic (and feminist), and positional (perspectival), in an attempt to decide if the "theory of the gaze" is a coherent subject, or actually several theories traditionally named as one.
Visual Worlds: Chapter 23, "Targets: How the Military Looks at Images"
Visual Worlds: Looking, Images, Visual Discoplines
, 2020
This is an essay on the military uses of images: videos in missiles, drones, infrared vision, las...
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This is an essay on the military uses of images: videos in missiles, drones, infrared vision, laser targeting, high-speed photography of projectiles, multiscreen battlefield planning -- and the relation between all those and contemporary art that uses, or comments on, military imagery.
It's a chapter from the book "Visual Worlds," co-authored with Erna Fiorentini. The book is available on Amazon:
Visual Worlds: Chapter 27, "How Art Historians Look at Images"
Visual Worlds: Looking, Images, Visual Disciplines
, 2020
This is a chapter from a textbook called Visual Worlds, co-written with Erna Fiorentini. The book...
more
This is a chapter from a textbook called Visual Worlds, co-written with Erna Fiorentini. The book covers a very wide range of practices of seeing, including fine art, art history, medicine, law, literature, and several sciences, and it includes discussions of art theory, politics, and the science of vision.
The entire book is available on Amazon.
Pictures of the Body: Affect and Logic, opening, preface, introduction
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, ra...
more
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, racial studies, biology). It is intended for artists, art students, and people interested in theories of art.
This is the 2021 revision. Every couple of years I rewrite and update this book. The original was published by Stanford University Press in 1999 and is now out of print. This revision (the third "edition") includes examples from contemporary art, and assignments for classroom use.
All comments & questions are welcome!
Pictures of the Body: Affect and Logic, chapter 1, "Membranes"
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, ra...
more
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, racial studies, biology). It is intended for artists, art students, and people interested in theories of art.
This is the 2021 revision. Every couple of years I rewrite and update this book. The original was published by Stanford University Press in 1999 and is now out of print. This revision (the third "edition") includes examples from contemporary art, and assignments for classroom use.
All comments & questions are welcome!
Pictures of the Body: Affect and Logic, chapter 2, "Psychomachia"
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, ra...
more
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, racial studies, biology). It is intended for artists, art students, and people interested in theories of art.
This is the 2021 revision. Every couple of years I rewrite and update this book. The original was published by Stanford University Press in 1999 and is now out of print. This revision (the third "edition") includes examples from contemporary art, and assignments for classroom use.
All comments & questions are welcome!
Pictures of the Body: Affect and Logic, chapter 3, "Cut Flesh"
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, ra...
more
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, racial studies, biology). It is intended for artists, art students, and people interested in theories of art.
This is the 2021 revision. Every couple of years I rewrite and update this book. The original was published by Stanford University Press in 1999 and is now out of print. This revision (the third "edition") includes examples from contemporary art, and assignments for classroom use.
All comments & questions are welcome!
Pictures of the Body: Affect and Logic, chapter 4, "By Looking Alone"
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, ra...
more
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, racial studies, biology). It is intended for artists, art students, and people interested in theories of art. This chapter covers the history of racial research in the 19th and 20th centuries and the artistic possibilities of pornography.
This is the 2021 revision. Every couple of years I rewrite and update this book. The original was published by Stanford University Press in 1999 and is now out of print. This revision (the third "edition") includes examples from contemporary art, and assignments for classroom use.
All comments & questions are welcome!
Pictures of the Body: Affect and Logic, chapter 5, "Analogic Seeing"
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, ra...
more
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, racial studies, biology). It is intended for artists, art students, and people interested in theories of art. This is the 2021 revision. Every couple of years I rewrite and update this book. The original was published by Stanford University Press in 1999 and is now out of print. This revision (the third "edition") includes examples from contemporary art, and assignments for classroom use. All comments & questions are welcome!
Pictures of the Body: Affect and Logic, chapter 6, "Dry Schemata"
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, ra...
more
This book is about representations of the body in all fields (fine art, medicine, ethnography, racial studies, biology). It is intended for artists, art students, and people interested in theories of art.
This is the 2013 revision. (The last two chapters were not updated in 2021.) The original was published by Stanford University Press in 1999 and is now out of print.
All comments & questions are welcome!
Visual Practices Across the University, part one, Introduction
The book is a study of the range of image-making and image-interpreting practices in an average u...
more
The book is a study of the range of image-making and image-interpreting practices in an average university, with no particular stress on art. There are chapters by doctors, lawyers, scientists of all sorts, engineers, humanists, social scientists... it is a cross-section of the actual production of images in the university, and a corrective to the special interests of visual studies.
This file contains the opening pages, table of contents, preface, and the lengthy introduction, which assesses the state of scholarship on art / science links, including critical reviews of scholars who write on the "science of art" or vice versa. The introduction also draws out common themes in the 30 disciplines that participated in the exhibition, arguing that it is possible to consider images in various fields without using tropes from the humanities or social sciences as explanatory tools--in other words, by letting the different disciplines speak in their own languages.
The ultimate purpose of the introduction, and the book as a whole, is to justify a university-wide course on visual experience, which would introduce students to work in all faculties or divisions of the university. Such a course would be a corrective to the almost exclusively humanities-based perspective of existing "visual culture" courses; and it would also be an interesting acknowledgment of the visual nature of much of contemporary research and experience (running, as it would, against the grain of other freshman courses, in which words and equations continue to be preeminent).
Visual Practices Across the University, part two, chapters 1-16
This second part contains these chapters, in two files:

1 Chemistry: Reading Spectrograms
2 Pe...
more
This second part contains these chapters, in two files:
1 Chemistry: Reading Spectrograms
2 Performance Art: Problems of Documentation
3 Field Geology: Deductions from Beach Stones
4 Economics: Sirens in Classics, in Philosophy, and in Economic Theory
5 Linguistics: Medieval Irish Color Terms
6 Astrophysics: Doppler Tomography of Accretion Disks
7 Law: Video-game Technology in the Irish Bloody Sunday Tribunal
8 Computer Science: Visualizing the Internet
9 Occupational Therapy: Exercises in Doing, Being, and Becoming
10 Speech and Hearing Science: Speech Spectrograms
11 Restorative Dentistry: Matching Colours in Porcelain Crowns
12 Radio Astronomy: Observations of the Galactic Center
13 Archaeology: Imaging and Mapping Practices
14 Mapping: Uses of Geological Maps
15 Art History: Iconographic Analysis
16 Civil Engineering: A High Resolution Aerial Photograph
Originally published as Visual Practices Across the University, with contributions by thirty-five scholars (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 2007).
Visual Practices Across the University, part three, chapters 17 to the end
by
James Elkins
and
Bettie Higgs
This third part contains these chapters:

17 Anatomy: Fluorescence Microscopy
18 Aerodynamics: ...
more
This third part contains these chapters:
17 Anatomy: Fluorescence Microscopy
18 Aerodynamics: Video Analysis of Pigeon Flight
19 Mathematics: Visual Solutions to a Logic Problem
20 Applied Social Studies: Masks in Social Work
21 Pathology: Diagnosis of a Kidney Disease
22 Epigraphy: Three-Dimensional Laser Scanning of Inscribed Stones
23 Geochemistry: Deformation of Grains in Sandstone
24 Food Science: Electrophoresis Gels of Cheddar Cheese 25 Zoology: Automated Recognition of Individual Cetaceans
26 Art History: Political Meanings of John Heartfield’s Photographs
27 Microbiology: Visualizing Viruses
28 Oceanography: Imaging the Sea Bed Using Side-Scanning Sonar
29  Philosophy: Arabic and Russian Visual Tropes
30  Legal pedagogy: Teaching Visual Rhetoric to Law Students
This file also contains the Afterword, which is an essay on the politics of publishing in different countries. In the Afterword, I justify my choice of a German publisher, and write about which presses are considered appropriate for young scholars in the U.S., U.K., and German-speaking countries. The politics is a sensitive issue, and as far as I know it hasn't been addressed elsewhere.
Chinese Landscape Painting as Western Art History (Preface, in Chinese)
This is a translation of the Preface from the book "Chinese Landscape Painting as Western Art His...
more
This is a translation of the Preface from the book "Chinese Landscape Painting as Western Art History," with an introduction by Jennifer Purtle (Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2010).
It was published in World Sinology 9 (2012): 118–27. This also has a Chinese translation of Jennifer Purtle’s introduction.
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