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Editor's note - Editorial
Art Bulletin, The, March, 2001
In its over eighty years, the Art Bulletin has veered only occasionally from its essential fare of scholarly articles and book reviews. This issue, the first of the new millennium, seems an appropriate place to introduce two new features: exhibition review articles and state of the discipline essays.
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Museum exhibitions have always been an important source of art historical scholarship. For many years now, retrospectives of well known or overlooked artists, focused surveys of the art produced in a specific place during a specific time, and thematic exhibitions addressing a vexing problem or issue have generated scholarship that has led to fundamental reconsiderations of art historical knowledge. Yet, there have been relatively few forums in which such exhibitions, as well as their accompanying publications and programs, have been assessed in depth. The exhibition review articles that we publish for now occasionally and soon on a regular basis aim to address this Lacuna. These articles will be more than reviews. Focusing on the entire corpus of the exhibition--its presentation in all of its venues, the catalogue, and the public programs organized in conjunction with it--they will ask how the project reassesses the current state of scholarship on the subject it examines. We are delighted that the first artic le is Wendy Wassyng Roworth's thoughtful examination of the exhibition The Splendor of Eighteenth-Century Rome, organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Like the exhibition review articles, "The State of Art History" essays also aim to reassess the state of scholarship in various fields. This series revives and recasts the state of research essays initiated by Richard Spear, Editor-in-Chief of the Art Bulletin from 1985 to 1988. During his tenure, Spear commissioned essays on a number of fields, ranging from the art of antiquity, to Italian painting of the seventeenth century, to twentieth-century studies, to the feminist critique of art history. Providing a temporary forum for taking stock of our discipline at a time of great change, these essays were an invaluable resource for scholars. In the intervening decade and a half much has changed. The recuperation of traditional scholarship, the introduction of new methodologies, and the reconsideration of what we mean by "art" and "history" have affected virtually every field. These developments have made reassessments of the states of the many art histories that comprise our discipline more vital than ever. We a re honored to inaugurate "The State of Art History" with two articles on the state of scholarship in the field of Japanese art by Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan and Yoshiaki Shimizu.
Finally, it is with great sadness that we say good-bye to Elaine Koss, who has been Deputy Director of Publications at College Art Association since 1997. Elaine devoted four years of outstanding and imaginative service to CAA's publications. Many of the recent enhancements of the Art Bulletin, such as adding color to our cover and, more significantly, to our pages, which has crucial scholarly implications, were brought about under the editorship of John Paoletti with the essential help of Elaine. She was a remarkably dedicated, efficient, and helpful production manager of the Art Bulletin; a respected colleague for the editors and editorial board members; and a valued friend. We wish her the very best in her future pursuits.
H. PERRY CHAPMAN
Editor-in-Chief
COPYRIGHT 2001 College Art Association
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group
