Art and its Global Histories

The reader Art and its global histories represents an invaluable teaching tool, offering content ranging from academic essays and excerpts, new translations, interviews with curators and artists, to art criticism. The primary sources and debates in the form of extracts from major secondary texts have been selected to give a broad chronological span, without attempting to be exhaustive. Much of the debate on global art history involves an additive approach, extending the geography of art without a strong internal rationale. No position in the debate is without its problems or conundrums, but this book has opted for a conceptualised, integrated approach, recognising that the problematic of global art history is itself a western paradigm. The introduction sets out the state of art history today as it undergoes the profound shift of a 'global turn'. It questions the strengths and pitfalls of this situation. Section one addresses the issues for art history as it faces these challenges, bringing together methodological and overarching texts. The next four sections are arranged chronologically: 'European art and the wider world c. 1415-1550'; 'Art, commerce and colonialism 1600-1800'; 'Empire and art: British India'; and 'Art after empire: from colonialism to globalisation'. Section six brings together leading scholars to probe the topics and chronological periods covered by the reader to draw together the book as a whole, to define the most cogent methodological challenges and to chart the future of global art history. Every text included is preceded by a short paragraph written by a specialist on the author and the issues raised. Particular focus is given to British India, which represents a shift from the usual attention paid to Orientalism and French art in this period. The sources and debates on this topic have never before been brought together in a satisfactory way and this book will represent a particularly significant and valuable contribution for postgraduate and undergraduate art history teaching.