Abstract
This essay argues for the development of socially engaged art history as a rigorous disciplinary practice through a consideration of the historical interconnectedness of the social bases of art and art history. A working definition for socially engaged art history is proposed, and its links with sustainability and socially engaged art are explored. The history of art history in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries is explored through the writings of Meyer Schapiro, Erwin Panofsky, Irving Lavin, and James Ackerman, which provide various perspectives on the social bases of art history. While socially engaged practices are relatively new to art and art history, the argument in favor of a socially engaged art history is based on the longstanding and interconnected social bases of both.
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Notes
- 1.
The trend in public scholarship and community engagement that began in the mid-1990s has grown; today, an increasing number of institutions of higher learning have centers for community engagement, and there is now a national organization, Imagining America, dedicated to its advancement that was established in 1999. Its website provides information about its annual conference, publications, and initiatives.
Laura M. Holzman’s essay in this volume, “Cultivating an Engaged Art History from Interdisciplinary Roots,” addresses what engaged art history might borrow from this well-established field.
- 2.
I first explored the possibilities of a socially engaged art history and provided a working definition in “Writing a Socially Engaged Art History,” a paper that I gave at SECAC in Sarasota, Florida, in 2014.
- 3.
My most recent revision to this definition that was shaped by further reflection during the process of co-editing this volume is included later in this chapter as well as in the book’s concluding chapter, “Reflections on Socially Engaged Art History.” The revised definition is as follows: “Socially engaged art history is an art history that is produced collaboratively within and between social groups over an extended period of time that seeks to engender a productive dialogue regarding issues and topics of concern, be they social, political, cultural, environmental, or otherwise, and to foster resilient and sustainable communities. In virtue of its modes of operation and the interests of its practitioners, it tends to address difference, division, and inequality in society.”
- 4.
- 5.
Vratskidou is working on a larger project that addresses the role of artistic practice in the early years of the discipline (2018, 1).
- 6.
Artforobama.net was accessed September 15, 2014. As of publication date, Ewald’s photograph is no longer posted on artforobama.net, but can still be seen at https://www.readingthepictures.org/2008/09/art-for-obama-authenticity-and-purity-of-race-and-patriotism/.
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Persinger, C. (2021). What Is Socially Engaged Art History?. In: Persinger, C., Rejaie, A. (eds) Socially Engaged Art History and Beyond. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43609-4_3
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