Modernism, Art, Therapy

A new transnational history of modernist art that connects discourses on art as therapy to questions of gender, disability, race, and the politics of care

In an innovative collection of essays by established and emerging scholars, Modernism, Art, Therapy explores relationships between clinically derived art therapies and the modernisms that developed transnationally in visual arts across the twentieth century. Through sites of practice such as hospitals, clinics, and prisons—but also schools, art museums, and galleries—the book puts art history into conversation with critical medical and health humanities, disability studies, critical race studies, and gender and sexuality studies. Committed to exploring questions of agency and social justice, contributors to the book attend to traditionally marginalized subjects and makers, from children and the incarcerated to women artists, therapists, and care workers. The volume thus aims not only to expand the category of masterworks that art historians deem meaningful but also to expose the limitations of dominant narratives about modernism.

This is a born-digital publication available exclusively on the A&AePortal.