James Elkins (born 1955) is an American

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...

and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

. He is E.C. Chadbourne Chair of art history, theory, and criticism at the

School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...

. He also coordinates the Stone Summer Theory Institute, a short term school on contemporary art history based at the

Education

*BA, cum laude, 1977,

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teac ...

*MFA and MA, 1984,

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the be ...

*PhD with honors, 1989,

Publications

*Pictures and Tears: A History of People Who Have Cried in Front of Paintings *Chinese Landscape Painting as Western Art History *Pictures of the Body: Pain and Metamorphosis *The Domain of Images *How to Use Your Eyes *What Painting Is *The Poetics of Perspective *The Object Stares Back: On the Nature of Seeing *Why are our Pictures Puzzles? *What Happened to Art Criticism? *Visual Studies: A Skeptical Introduction *Why Art Cannot Be Taught: A Handbook For Art Students *Six Stories From the End of Representation *Stories of Art *On the Strange Place of Religion in Contemporary Art *On Pictures and the Words That Fail Them *Our Beautiful, Dry, and Distant Texts: Art History as Writing *Master Narratives and Their Discontents

References

External links

*http://www.jameselkins.com American art historians American art critics School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty Art Institute of Chicago Living people 1955 births {{US-art-historian-stub