Cover image: Italian Renaissance religious paintings in a museum gallery. Photo by A Scholarly Skater.
Pretty much from the moment I got my art history degree, I’ve been having variations of the same conversation with troubling frequency. I’ll tell someone about my work, and they’ll reply with something like “I don’t understand anything when I go to art museums. I just feel lost.” Pretty clearly, there are some big gaps in the way art is being presented to the public if even highly intelligent and capable people feel confused. (In other words, if you feel this way too, it’s not your fault!) This just seems so unfortunate and unnecessary.
In the process of writing my book, The Art Museum Insider, I’ve thought long and hard about what people actually need to know in order to make sense of art. As a result, I’ve come up with something that I truly believe will be most effective for my readers – a book that teaches you to think critically about what you see and draw your own conclusions about it, even if you’re a total beginner.
Here is some of what you’ll learn
- Practice key skills like active looking, describing what you see, comparing artworks, and interpreting art based on evidence.
- Recognize the basic visual components within all artworks, their effects, and choices artists make in using them.
- Consider different approaches to representational and abstract subject matter and some of the ways to make sense of them.
- Discover the multitude of ways that artworks can convey meaning.
- Think like an art historian: uncover the factors art historians consider when interpreting art and how newbies can apply similar approaches themselves.
- Try activities, prompts, and questions to consider when interpreting art, including plenty of options for use with both representational and abstract art as well as all sorts of art objects.
- Gain expert advice for enjoying art in museums, discovering your artistic taste, and more.
Why my book stands out
While The Art Museum Insider isn’t actually an art history book (it doesn’t give you facts about specific artists, artworks, or styles), I like to say that it teaches you to think like an art historian. The book introduces you to skills and methods similar to those art historians use in analyzing artworks, though at a more introductory level. These approaches can allow you to be a more independent and confident art viewer who doesn’t need to totally rely on others to shape your experiences. They won’t make you an expert or replace art-historical knowledge, but I believe that they provide an approachable starting point that is usable without many years of study. They’re also applicable to many different types of artworks, far beyond the selection of European paintings usually covered by introductory books.
I began developing these thinking skills in my university art history program, but I don’t see them frequently taught of that formal setting. I’m not sure why that’s the case, but I think it’s an oversight and a disservice to learners. After all, being savvy about art isn’t just about what you know; it’s also about how you think, especially about images and their powers of communication. That’s why I can walk into a gallery filled with artworks from an unfamiliar tradition and at least kind of make sense of things while someone else might be totally lost. Again, this book alone won’t instantly make you a master in art historical thought, but it’s certainly a strong introduction to a useful set of skills.
I’ve also noticed that the art world is short on quality content for intelligent, capable beginners, so I’ve worked hard to ensure that my book neither over-complicates things nor dumbs anything down. My book features the same easy-to-understand style you already enjoy here on my blog. There’s no snobbishness or unnecessary jargon, just useful and accessible explanations. That’s what makes this book a valuable addition to any self-taught art lover’s personal curriculum.
Learn more
Click the button below to learn more about The Art Museum Insider. You can get a special sneak peek inside the book when you sign up for my email list on that page or in the box below.
