Horizontal Art History and Beyond Revising Peripheral Critical Practices

This book is devoted to the concept of horizontal art history—a proposal of a paradigm shift formulated by the Polish art historian Piotr Piotrowski (1952–2015)—that aims at undermining the hegemony of the discourse of art history created in the Western world. The concept of horizontal art history is one of many ideas on how to conduct nonhierarchical art historical analysis that have been developed in different geopolitical locations since at least the 1970s, parallel to the ongoing process of decolonization. This book is a critical examination of horizontal art history which provokes a discussion on the original concept of horizontal art history and possible methods to extend it. This is an edited volume written by international scholars who acknowledge the importance of the concept, share its basic assumptions and are aware both of its advantages and limitations. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, art historiography and postcolonial studies.

Agata Jakubowska, Magdalena Radomska, Introduction PART I Practicing Horizontal Art History: Democracy Katarzyna Murawska-Muthesius, The Critical Museum Debate Continues Dorota Jarecka, Horizontal Art History and the Revolutionary Double Bind Karen von Veh and Richard Gregor, Horizontality without Limits: Postcolonial and Postsocialist Experience as Frameworks for Studying Art and Art History in Peripheries PART II Practicing Horizontal Art History: Localisations Mathilde Arnoux, About the West Paula Barreiro López, Close Other(s) in the West: Spain and Its Horizontal Histories During the Cold War Natalia Smolianskaia, Russian Avant-Garde in the Optics of the Horizontal History of Art Anthony Gardner, Exhibition-Making as Horizontal Art History? Agata Jakubowska, Toward Alter-Globalist History of Feminist Art PART III Challenging Horizontal Art History and Its Internal Contradictions Maja and Reuben Fowkes, How to Write a Global History of Central and Eastern European Art Magdalena Radomska, Not Horizontal Enough: Horizontal Art History with Marxist Restrictions Jérôme Bazin, Cultural Backwardness and Economic Backwardness: How Can Horizontal Art History Tackle Socioeconomic Issues? Edit András, Horizontal Art History: Endangered Species Jakub Dabrowski, Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Art in the Perspective of Horizontal Art History PART IV Alternatives to Horizontal Art History Terry Smith, Allegories of Orientation Dan Karlholm, From Horizontal Art History to Lateral Art Studies? Béatrice Joyeux-Prunel, Why Horizontal Art History Cannot Escape Computation Andrea Giunta, Simultaneous Avant-Gardes and Horizontal Art Histories: Avant-Gardes Outside of the Canonic Narrations

Agata Jakubowska is Faculty Member in the Institute of Art History, Warsaw University Magdalena Radomska is Faculty Member in the Department of Art History, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan.