Thursday, April 11, 2019

James Elkins

Art Historian

“How Animals Use Their Eyes”

James Elkins is E.C. Chadbourne Professor in the Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago. James' writing focuses on the history and theory of images in art, science, and nature.

Some of his books are exclusively on fine art (What Painting Is, Why Are Our Pictures Puzzles?). Others include scientific and non-art images, writing systems, and archaeology (The Domain of Images, On Pictures and the Words That Fail Them), and some are about natural history (How to Use Your Eyes). Recent books include What Photography Is, written against Roland Barthes's Camera Lucida; Artists with PhDs, second edition; and Art Critiques: A Guide, third edition.