'Melville and Readings have done a superb job, not only in their choice of essays, but in their elaborate and highly ambitious introduction. It is the best assessment that I know of the current state of contemporary art history and criticism, the most subtle analysis of the theoretical alternatives open to contemporary and future work in these disciplines.' - Keith Moxey, Barnard College and Columbia University

• List of Illustrations - Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - PART 1: General Introduction: Textuality and Vision; S. Melville & B. Readings - PART 2: Introduction: Basic Concepts of Art History; S. Melville - Beholding Art History: Vision, Place, and Power; G. Pollock - Past Looking; M. Holly - A Discourse with the Shape of Reason Missing; J. Tagg - Post-Aesthetics: A German Perspective; I. Rogoff - PART 3 Introduction: How Obvious is Art? Kitsch and the Semiotician; B. Readings - Reading the Gaze; M. Bal - Philostratus and the Imaginary Museum; N. Bryson - 'It is Myself that I Paint': Topics and Figures of Enunciation; L. Marin - Armor Fou; H. Foster - PART 4 - Introduction: Histoire Politique de l'Oeil; F. Lubert - Impersonal Violence; J. Bender - Vision and Visuality; P.de Bolla - B/G; T. Crow - PART 5 - Introduction: Vision Procured; B. Schaber - In the Master's Bedroom; R. Krauss - Photo Unrealism; M. Jay - Chance Encounters; V. Burgin - Index

'Melville and Readings have done a superb job, not only in their choice of essays, but in their elaborate and highly ambitious introduction. It is the best assessment that I know of the current state of contemporary art history and criticism, the most subtle analysis of the theoretical alternatives open to contemporary and future work in these disciplines.' - Keith Moxey, Barnard College and Columbia University

• List of Illustrations - Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - PART 1: General Introduction: Textuality and Vision; S. Melville & B. Readings - PART 2: Introduction: Basic Concepts of Art History; S. Melville - Beholding Art History: Vision, Place, and Power; G. Pollock - Past Looking; M. Holly - A Discourse with the Shape of Reason Missing; J. Tagg - Post-Aesthetics: A German Perspective; I. Rogoff - PART 3 Introduction: How Obvious is Art? Kitsch and the Semiotician; B. Readings - Reading the Gaze; M. Bal - Philostratus and the Imaginary Museum; N. Bryson - 'It is Myself that I Paint': Topics and Figures of Enunciation; L. Marin - Armor Fou; H. Foster - PART 4 - Introduction: Histoire Politique de l'Oeil; F. Lubert - Impersonal Violence; J. Bender - Vision and Visuality; P.de Bolla - B/G; T. Crow - PART 5 - Introduction: Vision Procured; B. Schaber - In the Master's Bedroom; R. Krauss - Photo Unrealism; M. Jay - Chance Encounters; V. Burgin - Index

'Melville and Readings have done a superb job, not only in their choice of essays, but in their elaborate and highly ambitious introduction. It is the best assessment that I know of the current state of contemporary art history and criticism, the most subtle analysis of the theoretical alternatives open to contemporary and future work in these disciplines.' - Keith Moxey, Barnard College and Columbia University

• List of Illustrations - Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - PART 1: General Introduction: Textuality and Vision; S. Melville & B. Readings - PART 2: Introduction: Basic Concepts of Art History; S. Melville - Beholding Art History: Vision, Place, and Power; G. Pollock - Past Looking; M. Holly - A Discourse with the Shape of Reason Missing; J. Tagg - Post-Aesthetics: A German Perspective; I. Rogoff - PART 3 Introduction: How Obvious is Art? Kitsch and the Semiotician; B. Readings - Reading the Gaze; M. Bal - Philostratus and the Imaginary Museum; N. Bryson - 'It is Myself that I Paint': Topics and Figures of Enunciation; L. Marin - Armor Fou; H. Foster - PART 4 - Introduction: Histoire Politique de l'Oeil; F. Lubert - Impersonal Violence; J. Bender - Vision and Visuality; P.de Bolla - B/G; T. Crow - PART 5 - Introduction: Vision Procured; B. Schaber - In the Master's Bedroom; R. Krauss - Photo Unrealism; M. Jay - Chance Encounters; V. Burgin - Index