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Mary Anne Staniszewski studies culture and art in relation to political and social notions. Her books areBelieving Is Seeing- Creating the Culture of Art and The Power of Display- A History of Exhibition Installations at the Museum of Modern Art .Staniszewski organized a symposium on contemporary slavery at Exit Art in New York. Staniszewski holds a PhD in Art History from the Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, and is a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Why are the Palacolithic Venus of Wittendorf, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel frescoes and Marcel Duchamp's ready-made urinal all considered to be works of art? Is a Cindy Sherman photograph as much 'art' as a portrait by Leonardo da Vinci? Who decides what art is? In the tradition of Marshall McLuhan and John Berger, this book - which is at once learned and somewhat subversive - presents a new way of assessing our artistic heritage. It seeks to bridge the gulf between classical Japanese painting and the films of Spike Lee, between high art and popular culture, and probes beyond the rhetorical surface of standard art histories. Drawing on the widest possible range of illustrative material the book throws new light on individual works and the often mystifying criteria by which they are valued. A most stimulating work, it contrives to involve the reader directly and provocatively in the debate which it undertakes. (Kirkus UK)
