Table of Contents

Contents * 1. What Is Art? * 2. Formalism and Style * 3. Iconography * 4. Contextual Approaches I: Marxism, Orientalism, Colonialism, and Racial Iconography * 5. Contextual Approaches II: Feminism and Gender * 6. Biography and Autobiography * 7. Semiotics I: Structuralism and Post-Structuralism * 8. Semiotics II: Deconstruction * 9. Psychoanalysis I: Freud * 10. Psychoanalysis II: Winnicott and Lacan * 11. Aesthetics and Psychoanalysis: Roger Fry and Roland Barthes

About the Author

Laurie Schneider Adams

Reviews

"Right now when art historians, much concerned with theory, are rethinking the political implications of their research, there is no more useful, better-natured introduction to these pressing concerns than Laurie Schneider Adams's now classic volume. Effortlessly erudite, determinedly generous, her book provides a lucid introduction to formalism, iconography, Marxism, feminism, psychoanalysis, and structuralism and post-structuralism with new sections on race, gender, orientalism, and colonialism. Her fast-moving, well-balanced commentary provides an ideal introduction to what will, inevitably, be a productive ongoing debate." --David Carrier, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Institute of Art "A teacher's dream...A far-ranging, generously sympathetic, well-illustrated, and very clear survey of contemporary concerns with theory...Adams's clear, accurate introduction will be a godsend." --Art Journal "Good, clear introduction for students who don't know their Derridas from their derrieres." --ARLIS News Sheet