We all would like to expand the scope of our teaching to incorporate a global art history, and many of us would also like to think about ways of decolonising the curriculum. But where to start?
Below are some links to free articles and resources that might help:
- Karen Overby, Towards the Ethical Practice of Art History, Material Collective, August 2018
- A series of posts on Race, Racism, and the Middle Ages: Tearing Down the “Whites Only” Medieval World, The Public Medievalist
- Abiodun Olasupo Akande, Decolonizing the Curriculum: Synthesizing “Multiple Consciousness” into the Art History Curricula of Nigeria and Ghana
- Chelsea Skalak, Mapping the Global Middle Ages: Diversifying the Classroom with GIS, the Once and Future Classroom. Resources for Teaching the Middle Ages
- AKM Khademul Haque, Decolonizing in the Age of Globalization: The Experience of a Bangladeshi Art Historian
- Christian Nae, Decolonizing Cartography? Visual Imagination and the Poetics of Space in Critical Contemporary Art
Other resources:
- Alice Proctor’s (Uncomfortable Art) reading list
- Museums & Race reading list
- Incluseum resources
Teaching Resources
Critical Terms films:
- Hybridity: Leah Clark and Kathleen Christian discussing the term hybridity. Includes Mass of Saint Gregory, 1539, feather on wood, Musée des Jacobins and Apothecary jar, c. 1700, Puebla, Mexico, Tin-glazed earthenware, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 11.87.9.
- Essentialism: Renate Dohmen and Kathleen Christian discussing the complexities of the term essentialism, exploring the ideas of art and culture it produced in the nineteenth century and what its legacies are today. Includes James Stephanoff, An Assemblage of Works of Art in Sculpture and in Painting, 1845; Johann Zoffany, Major William Palmer with his second wife, the Mughal princess Bibi Faiz Bakhsh; Rembrandt, Man in Oriental Costume.
- Mobility: Leah Clark and Kathleen Christian discussing the term mobility, and how it has changed the way we approach Renaissance works of art. Includes Holbein’s Ambassadors; Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel and its circulation in print; a devotional diptych with a portrait of Joos van der Burch.
- Commemoration: Susie West and Leah Clark discussing commemoration and how it can be applied to works of art and architecture. Includes war memorials; tomb sculpture; Paul Cummins and Tom Piper, Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red, Tower of London.
- a new film on Globalisation coming soon!
Open Arts Objects films:
- Leah Clark discussing Mantegna, Adoration of the Magi, c. 1495-1505, Getty Museum, LA
- Renate Dohmen discussing Tipu’s Tiger, 1780s or 90s, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Kim Woods discussing Benin plaque showing the façade of the Royal palace, 1550–1650 (British Museum)
- Elizabeth McKellar discussing Lutyens, Viceroy’s House (Rashtrapati Bhavan), 1920s, New Delhi
- Clare Taylor discussing Yinka Shonibare, Nelson’s Ship in a Bottle, 2010
- Warren Carter discussing Frida Kahlo, Self Portrait along the Border Line between Mexico and the USA, 1932
- Leon Wainwright discussing Sonia Khurana, Zoetrope, 1999, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, New Delhi
- Renate Dohmen discussing The Pilkington Album (1893-94), University of Cambridge.
- Emily Hannam (Assistant Curator, Islamic and South Asian Collections) discussing Bichitr and Ramdas, Shah-Jahan receives his three eldest sons and Asaf Khan during his accession ceremonies, 1630-40, from the Padshahnama, Royal Library, Windsor Castle.
- Clare Pollard (Curator of Japanese Art) discussing Utagawa Hiroshige I, Evening shower at Ōhashi Bridge, Atake (Ōhashi Atake no yudachi), nineteenth century, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
- Clare Pollard (Curator of Japanese Art) discussing Watanabe Nangaku, Bijin, or beautiful woman with a skull, early nineteenth century, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.
OpenLearn interactive on Travelling Objects, allows users to trace the travels of objects across the globe.
While not free, the Open University’s textbooks on Art and its Global Histories are worth checking out.
