Why We Look at Art, What Happens When We Do encourages a new way of being with art by restoring to viewers the central role we play in our own viewing. Written by an art historian, it is not a work of art history and though it tells the truth, it is not exactly nonfiction. read more

Foreword

Have you ever picked up a book about art that focused on history, biography, formal analysis, the genealogy of styles and said: That's all very interesting but what does it have to do with me? Stated more broadly, the question becomes: What role does the viewer play in this discussion? Does it not seem that the experience of art is often ignored or matters not at all?

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Sherrye Cohn holds a Ph.D. in art history from Washington University in St. Louis. She has taught at universities and museums, written catalogues for exhibitions, and published articles in scholarly journals. Her previous book, Arthur Dove: Nature as Symbol, describes the impact of science and occultism on the abstract art of this American painter. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.

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