in161213 Writing art history as it happens

I met an art history student from the University of Washington today, and I told her I had been thinking about someone to write about the history of printmaking in the Pacific Northwest. Art history books have been written by scholars in the past, but I wonder if it’s about time to reinvent the way art history books are written. Wouldn’t art students be interested? Or the public?

I’ve been studying online magazines, for example, which have been around for a generation. I subscribe to one from Spain on printmaking. Art magazines have a kinship with art history because so many scholars rely on magazine articles and essays to provide substance and validation of the information available to them.

However, I feel art history books lack the immediacy of real art experiences. One might have an art experience by going to an art museum. Reading material at the museum, such as labels of the works on display, audio guides, books, and live guided tours make the art experience even more interesting. It’s great to know the back stories which docents can tell about the works in the art museum.

But for every hour spent in an art museum experience, many thousands of hours are spent by people using their mobile devices, desk top computers, podcasts, and TV—far outside the world of art and art experiences. Forward-looking art history students should consider blending the tradition of scholarly art history with newer ways of publishing.

One of the owners of a Halfwood Press publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

publishes an electronic magazine he calls “Baseball art and history,” which is about baseball card collecting. I loved previewing his online publication. Like most electronic magazines, it mimics a real magazine showing two pages on screen with right pointing and left pointing arrows for turning pages. The double-page spread, for example, features an article with artwork, a photograph, and a video insert. There is a hotspot indicating links to another page including pages and other websites.

Art history books could be made the same way but instead of thick tomes, they could be created in installments. I’m reminded of 18^th and 19^th century practices such as used by Dickens in which he would write a chapter to be published in a monthly magazine. Eventually these chapters were sewn together to make his complete novels.

Above, screen shot from the Helmar Brewing Co. online magazine.

Above, screen shot from the Helmar Brewing Co. online magazine.

Above, screen shot from the Helmar Brewing Co. online magazine.