Quite a number of studies have assessed the value of Marxism to literary criticism, but there has been no recent and systematic study of what Marxism has to offer the social history of art. In situating the various strands of Marxist art history and the social history of art within ideological, political and historical contexts, this book represents a significant contribution to the study of visual culture at a time when old trends in Marxist art history are being reappraised. The author argues that the fragmented and confused state of the social history of art is the result of many radical cultural and art historians' move away from, rejection of, or even ignorance of Marxism, and their espousal of postmodern theories without any adequate method to position themselves in relation to these theories. Further, the reasons for this are ultimately to be found in the material conditions of late twentieth century culture and society, in the political disorientation of liberals and most of the Left, or what Jameson and Mandel describe as late capitalism.
Focusing on developments in the visual arts over the last eighty years but drawing extensively on historical precedents, this book demonstrates that Marxism is far subtler than is commonly assumed. The author looks at works which appear 'easy' to understand in Marxist terms, but more importantly, non-figurative works and works by women and black artists which Marxists have generally shied away from tackling. Certain to become standard reading on a number of courses, this book clearly and persuasively demonstrates that Marxism can help the art and cultural historian take a more nuanced approach to visual culture.

The first full-length title in English on the celebrated photographer Claude Cahun whose work was rediscovered in the 1980s.

This lively and original book looks at Cahun and her oeuvre in the contexts of the turbulent times in which she lived. Surveying standard postmodernist approaches to Cahun, born Lucy Schwob, Doy goes further, positioning Cahun's photographs as part of her life as a woman, lesbian and political activist in the early twentieth century. Doy considers Cahun's relationships with Symbolism and then Surrealism and her approach to dress and masquerade, assessing the images in the context of the situation of women at the time and within the prevailing fashion and beauty culture. She also pays attention to her curious images of constructed objects and re-evaluates the status of Cahun's small-scale snapshots as photographs.

Enormously readable, 'Claude Cahun' at last provides a fuller picture of this important artist's life and work.

Through its provocative examination of feminist and Marxist approaches to women's art and female representations, this book challenges the widespread belief that Marxism has nothing valuable to contribute to women's studies. The author argues that, from the French Revolution through to the present, gender and class have shaped visual imagery. She shows how Marxist theory can function to question some of the premises of feminist art histories and to provide a more accurate understanding of the meaning(s) of visual imagery.

Quite a number of studies have assessed the value of Marxism to literary criticism, but there has been no recent and systematic study of what Marxism has to offer the social history of art. In situating the various strands of Marxist art history and the social history of art within ideological, political and historical contexts, this book represents a significant contribution to the study of visual culture at a time when old trends in Marxist art history are being reappraised. The author argues that the fragmented and confused state of the social history of art is the result of many radical cultural and art historians' move away from, rejection of, or even ignorance of Marxism, and their espousal of postmodern theories without any adequate method to position themselves in relation to these theories. Further, the reasons for this are ultimately to be found in the material conditions of late twentieth century culture and society, in the political disorientation of liberals and most of the Left, or what Jameson and Mandel describe as late capitalism. Focusing on developments in the visual arts over the last eighty years but drawing extensively on historical precedents, this book demonstrates that Marxism is far subtler than is commonly assumed. The author looks at works which appear 'easy' to understand in Marxist terms, but more importantly, non-figurative works and works by women and black artists which Marxists have generally shied away from tackling. Certain to become standard reading on a number of courses, this book clearly and persuasively demonstrates that Marxism can help the art and cultural historian take a more nuanced approach to visual culture.

In this stimulating collection of essays, John Roberts draws together a wide range of work on some of the most important artists of the post-war period. Written by leading art historians and artist-writers, the essays take a sharply critical look at the construction of modern art history. The artists discussed include Francis Picabia, Robert Smithson, Ad Reinhardt, Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Mary Kelly, Cindy Sherman, Victor Burgin and Laurie Anderson. The extensive influence of post-structuralism on all schools of art history has brought about a widespread derogation of questions around intentionality and social agency. Free-ranging textual interpretation has come to outweigh causal analysis. Art Has No History! reverses this bias. Putting the artist back into art history, the essays reinstate the claims for historical materialism as a theory of the conflictual socialization of individuals. Acknowledging the dissemblances involved in the representations of artistic invention, the book challenges the self-image of traditional art history and the radical New Art History alike. In his introduction, John Roberts gives a fascinating account of the vicissitudes of Marxist writing on art, from Max Raphael and Arnold Hauser to T.J. Clark and Griselda Pollock. Placing the debates on intention and agency in their wider political context, he refers to what he calls "the continuing influence of historical materialism on the best Anglophone art writing today." Art Has No History! is a lively and iconoclastic contribution to that tradition.