Skin Color and Whiteness in Contemporary Art

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A01=Helen Westgeest
African American
Alba dUrbano
Angelica Dass
art history
art history research
artists
artwork
Asian
Author_Helen Westgeest
beauty
black
blackness
body
Category=AB
Category=AFC
Category=AGA
Category=JBSL
Category=JHB
Category=JHMC
Caucasian
China
clothing
collage
color
contemporary art and whiteness studies
critical race theory
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
ethnicity
Europe
European painting critique
Fang Lijun
flesh
installation
James Luna
Kerry James Marshall
Louise Potiki Bryant
Maori
mixed media
modern art
modernism
New Zealand
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
North America
nude
painting
pale skin
Pantone
performance art
photocollage
photography
politics
portrait
posthuman
race
racial representation
racism
screen
sociopolitical identity
Tau Lewis
Tishan Hsu
United States
video art
visual literacy
Wanda Tuerlinckx
white supremacy

Product details

  • ISBN 9781032795034
  • Weight: 560g
  • Dimensions: 174 x 246mm
  • Publication Date: 28 Apr 2025
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
  • Publication City/Country: GB
  • Product Form: Hardback
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This study demonstrates the significance of using contemporary art in scholarly debates about cultural aspects of skin, in particular “whiteness” as a phenomenon that is both overly visible and invisible.

There is a need for a study of these artists’ strategies, which consist of drawing attention to whiteness by means of making whiteness “strange” through alternative visibilities. By increasing skin awareness, the selected socio-critical artworks also pertain to fostering visual literacy as another important contemporary concern. Chapters mainly focus on recent artworks that address ongoing skin-related debates in countries in Europe and North America, rooted in histories of ideology of white supremacy. Moreover, these artworks critically reflect on the alleged superiority of the history of Western European painting, including a focus on the representation of pale skin as model of beauty.

The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, race and ethnicity studies, and cultural studies.

Helen Westgeest is Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History at Leiden University.

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