The Transition into Visual Culture

Running Head: THE TRANSITION INTO VISUAL CULTURE

Art Education Throughout History:

The Transition into Visual Culture

Sarah Greer

Northern Illinois University

Z1689155

Comprehensive Exam

Professor Staikidis

Summer 2019
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Visual culture has transitioned into the art classroom as a positive wave of change yet

teaching visual culture is still not accepted by all art educators. To begin forming an

understanding of visual culture in the classroom, we must aim to understand the history and

philosophies of art education before diving into visual culture itself. Art education has evolved in

a multitude of streams of influence that directly impact the practices of art education. Arthur

Efland (1990) tells us that “the ways the visual arts are taught today were conditioned by the

beliefs and values regarding art held by those who advocated its teaching in the past” (p.1).

Philosophical positions about the teaching of art and visual culture have drastically changed in

recent history and continue to cross historical and contemporary contexts. These positions have

manifested throughout history, art, schools, and communities while also being influenced by a

variety of social forces. To neglect to mention the evolution of art education is to neglect years

of wisdom and influence that are still relevant today. The purpose of this essay is to explore the

history of art education through historical accounts on the purposes of art education, throughout

modern and postmodern aesthetics, through the role of art in schools and communities, and

through critical analysis of present-day visual culture.

Historically, formal art education had been reserved for the elite in society in Western

culture. As such, we must mention that early on in art education, there was a limit to access to

instruction. Efland asks us to look to the beginnings of art education and to focus on these roots

of elitism. In the Middle Ages, the higher clergy was the backbone force for the arts, while in the

high Middle Ages, craft guilds began to form which expanded art to those outside of the social

circles of the elite (p. 2). “With the rise of universal literacy in the nineteenth century, the first

tentative efforts to introduce art and music into public education began in spite of objections

from segments of the public” (Efland, p. 2). This educational reform “removed the arts from the
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realm of necessities” which resulted in losing the privileged status which exacted art education

social costs (p. 2). This shift is vital to be aware of since this is what makes the arts vulnerable.

However, with the birth of more education to more groups than just the social elite, there came a

widened variety of artwork produced with a collection of art teaching philosophies.

The expansive results of increased education closely tie with art patronage. We must ask

who the patron is intended to be while studying the purpose of the production of specific works

of art. Efland drives at the idea of diverse patronage growing more diverse over time. The rich,

bodies of government, churches, and even one’s self all evolved as patrons and all continue to

evolve to this day. Diverse patronage, as Efland mentions, “creates conditions that foster a

degree of competition among artists” and that this competition has been a driving force to

emphasize individual styles (p. 3). Public school art education began, however, with drawing,

and drawing was the sole subject. Common school drawing “made its first appearance in

Pestalozzi’s Institute” and the methods that were used in school such as this tied directly to

industry, serving the “factory system” (pp. 113-4). The arts served a need for preparing members

of society to fit into a factory system model and some may argue that the arts continue to be

driven by this model. Beyond the factory system, individual expression is another key element to

mention in the history of art education. Once again, Efland warns the reader that this is a tricky

element in art since individual expression has held artists to a high social status, but individual

expression can also show little to no interest in the arts (p. 6). Individual expression is a leading

influence in the shift from modern art to postmodern art yet there are still complications from

previous and current models for art education.

Art education has deep roots in both the modern and postmodern art movements.

Modernism, spanning from the nineteenth century to early twentieth century, viewed “traditional
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forms of culture [as] outdated” and assessed the past “as different from the modern age; a

recognition of a more complex world; a challenging of traditional authorities such as reason,

science, government, and God” (Barrett, 2017, p. 238). Postmodernism heavily critiqued

modernism and as Efland, Freedman, and Stuhr (1996) describe, postmodern theory as an

evolving theory which does not yet have a generally accepted definition (p. 27). They explain

that postmodernism focuses on the process of artmaking while postmodernism also emphasizes

the importance of individual thought over abstract principles (p. 28). Modernism is more

theoretical, objective, and analytical while postmodernism is more subjective.

The shift from modernism to postmodernism was a critical shift in the fine arts,

particularly for women artists and minority artists. The Guerilla Girls (1998) describe the modern

art movement as art “isms” where women did not fit into these “isms” but these women artists

were beginning to find more opportunity in the twentieth century (p. 59). “With more freedom,

more women have become artists” (p. 59). The Guerrilla Girls discuss the collective

accomplishments of female contemporary artists to still lack fair representation in museums and

exhibitions. The Guerrilla Girls are also critical on the teaching of art in stating: “although the

West has lost some of its cultural hegemony, the art of Asia, Africa and the Americas is still not

accorded equal status with European art, or taught as often” (p. 90). While postmodern art

education addresses multiculturalism and feminism more than modernism had, these are still

contemporary problems for postmodernism to address.

Modernism introduced art from various corners of the world, yet this art was

reconceptualized with modern art standards and principles. Efland, Freedman, and Stuhr (1996)

explain that multiculturalism is a postmodern issue since postmodernism’s attitude toward

culture is conditioned “by the sense that all cultural production has to be understood within the
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context of its culture and origin” (p. 13). In other words, modernism appropriated artwork

outside of the realms of Western at by judging these works of art as if they were created within a

Western context. Postmodernism takes an intentional step to investigate subjectively.

“Postmodern art often involves the use of imagery and objects in ways that point to the cultural

collapsing of the world and reminds us that images continually appropriated and recycled” (p.

37). Postmodernism recognizes the objective nature of modernism and asks us to recognize the

impact of the history of art along with how art is taught.

Postmodern concepts are integrated into teaching visual culture in the classroom and our

communities. Kerry Freedman (2003) explains that curriculum theorists have struggled with

ways to develop curriculum through a postmodern approach (p. 108). Postmodern curriculum is

in a state of flux and curriculum can vary depending on the needs for the school or community

for which they are developed for. Freedman believes that teaching visual culture can help

educators “meet democratic goals” and that “a visual culture curriculum is a collage for learning

that illuminates and demonstrates and awareness of the fragile and fragmentary state of much

contemporary cultural knowledge, as well as the resilience of cultural traditions” (p. 127).

Teaching visual culture embraces postmodernism’s drive for fair inclusion of multiculturalism in

the art classroom. This inclusion works to dismantle elitism within the arts while still providing a

purpose and need of art educators. Teaching visual culture connects art education to the needs of

a postmodern classroom.

Visual culture teaches us to truly investigate images and to explore everything we see.

John Berger (2008) states that “seeing comes before words. The child looks and recognizes

before it can speak” (p. 7). We are surrounded by visual culture and we learn our visual world

before learning the words that we use to describe that world. The way we see the world “is
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affected by what we know or what we

believe” (p. 8). Concepts and the way we

see changes within history and can change

throughout the span of a lifetime.

Photographs and images are forms of record

keeping yet “the past is never there waiting

Figure 1. Claude Monet, Olympia, 1863, Oil Paint

to be discovered, to be recognized for exactly

what it is” (p. 11). Our own bias and personal perceptions can alter our readings into images. Let

us take Manet’s 1863 oil painting, “Olympia” as an example (Figure 1). Through the lens of a

modernist, Manet’s painting is seen to confront the viewer with a woman staring directly toward

us. She is nude and presented as a sight for the male gaze. In a postmodern lens, the

postmodernist would be critical of the purpose of this painting and the depiction of a sexualized

female and a servant who is a minority. Power dynamics are displayed in this painting and while

the nude female is gazing upon the viewer, she is still a sexualized object.

In a contemporary lens focusing on visual culture, we can and should be critical of the

effects of only showing and teaching about paintings such as Manet’s “Olympia.” A postmodern

approach to teaching art is inclusive and critical of the history of the arts. The Guerrilla Girls’

(1998) book, The Gurrilla Girls’ Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, is a useful

tool for inclusion of more women artists, including women of color. Their goal is to “make sure

that the work of women and artists of color is valued, exhibited, and preserved in our

institutions” (p. 91). To follow their lead in presenting art that is inclusive of women and

minority artists, let us look at a contemporary example within the realm of visual culture.
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Teaching visual culture allows art educators to discuss and

critique areas of visual culture within society. Freedman (2003)

explains that “contemporary culture has become visual” and that

students need guidance in navigating the complexities that come with

our visual contemporary culture (p. xi). Figure 2 is the result of a

Snapchat gender-swap filter placed over a painting of George

Washington. This filter was applied to each president of the United

States and these images were circulating social media during May

Figure 2. Snapchat filter; 2019. The filter itself stirred debate within feminist and LGBTQ+
Gender Swap of George
Washington, May 2019
groups. These debates focused on the use of gendered language. Early

articles discussing these filters made statements declaring “The U.S. Presidents as Women” and

women focused language. There was a backlash against Snapchat and their gender-swap filters

along with the articles that initially created a two-gendered discussion. After criticisms from

social media, Snapchat and news outlets changed their headlines to “gender-swap filters” instead

of headlines stating the existence of only two genders which excluded non-gender conforming

and the transgender communities.

This recent explosion of criticism of a historical painting along with visual culture that is

consumed today via social media is evidence of the need to discuss visual culture within

classrooms. Students are consuming social media and need academic outlets to form educated

discussions and understandings of the visual culture that is present within our own timeline. The

visual arts are arguably more relevant and powerful in the age of social media with visual culture

present in a multitude of popular mobile applications such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and

Facebook. The range of places we absorb visual culture is ever-expanding and Freedman (2003)
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believes that “in the new visual culture environment, high-level, interdisciplinary interpretive

skills and concepts are becoming increasingly important for all students” (p. 87). Visual culture

is demanding we notice and instruct on the powers of imagery within our ever-expanding world

of imagery that meddles in our lives spanning from billboard advertisements to social media.

Throughout the history of art education, teaching practices adapted to the social roles and

structures placed by the elite. The teaching philosophies of art education transformed as

postmodern aesthetics overshadowed modern aesthetics. As art education continued to evolve,

the role of the arts had to adapt within schools and communities. And without studying the

history of art education, one would struggle to grasp the current climate of teaching visual

culture and the need for visual culture driven curriculum in our classrooms today. While art

educators may still disagree about shifting away from discipline based art education strategies to

teaching visual culture strategies, we cannot deny the impact and influence of visual culture

inside and outside the classroom. Students are no longer transitioning into the age of information

and social media; they were born and live within the age of visual culture. To not address the

forces that directly influence daily life for students is impractical for art educators to ignore.

Visual culture is ever-changing and ever-expanding, thus, as educators, we must be vigilant to

continue researching and exploring the evolution of our discipline.

When those who have the power to name and to socially construct reality choose not to
see you or hear you...when someone with the authority of a teacher, say, describes the
world and you are not in it, there is a moment of psychic disequilibrium, as if you looked
in the mirror and saw nothing. -Adrienne Rich, 1985, Blood, Bread, and Poetry
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References

Barrett, T. M. (2017). Why is that art?: Aesthetics and criticism of contemporary art. New York:
Oxford University Press.

Berger, J. (2008). Ways of seeing. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.

Efland, A. D. (1990). A History of Art Education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Efland, A., Freedman, K. J., & Stuhr, P. L. (1996). Postmodern art education: An approach to
curriculum. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics and the social life of art.
New York: Teachers College Press.

Guerrilla Girls. (1998). The Guerrilla Girl’s Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art.
New York, NY: Penguin books.