Michelle Kamhi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Michelle Kamhi
Academic Questions, Oct 17, 2020
Academic Questions, Feb 25, 2021
Medical students are prudently taught to guard against the "Semmelweis reflex." Also known as the... more Medical students are prudently taught to guard against the "Semmelweis reflex." Also known as the "Semmelweis effect," it is the tendency to automatically reject new information or knowledge that contradicts prevailing norms or beliefs. The caveat stems from one of the most notorious debacles in
Academic Questions, Jul 22, 2022
For the crimes of challenging the National Arts Education Association’s rigid adherence to Critic... more For the crimes of challenging the National Arts Education Association’s rigid adherence to Critical Race Theory, transgender ideology, and “systemic racism,” as well as for questioning the assumption that art teachers are morally obliged to be “actively antiracist,” art critic Michelle Marder Kamhi has been booted from the NAEA Collaborate Community.
Academic Questions, Jul 22, 2020
The cancellation early this year of a very popular, long-standing Yale undergraduate survey cours... more The cancellation early this year of a very popular, long-standing Yale undergraduate survey course on Western art understandably provoked a considerable outcry among cultural conservatives. As the latest rejection of an allegedly outmoded canon focused on "dead white men," the move was clearly inspired by the current academic obsession with "diversity," consistent with other like-minded curricular changes and with the introduction of all-gender bathrooms at Yale. Specious claims made by the college's Art History Department to justify the cancellation were thoroughly dissected by Heather Mac Donald. 1 Her perspective was informed by her having taken the first half of the two-semester course ("Introduction to the History of Art: Prehistory to the Renaissance") in the 1970s, when it was presented by architectural historian Vincent Scully, whose charismatic teaching became legendary at Yale and beyond. As she trenchantly argued, killing the course is yet another capitulation to identity politics and its assault on Western civilization. The chief focus of the recent furor, however, was the course's second half: "Introduction to the History of Art: Renaissance to the Present" (Yale HSAR 115b). Had Mac Donald gone on to take that offering, she might have discovered that even under Scully's inspired tutelage, Western art history was already headed down a dubious path-one far more destructively consequential than viewing art through the distorting lens of "gender, class, and 'race'" as envisioned by Professor Tim Barringer, his latest successor.
Studies in Art Education, 2016
The answer to the question "Who says that's art?" is, "If Ayn Rand says so, then it's definitely ... more The answer to the question "Who says that's art?" is, "If Ayn Rand says so, then it's definitely art." No more mystery there. Kamhi explains in her preface that this book is an attempt at creating a more popular version of an earlier book on Ayn Rand's aesthetics-titled "What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand"(Kamhi & Torres, 2000). According to Kamhi the earlier book was effectively blacklisted by the art cognoscenti, so she determined to write a more accessible and popular version, for the lay public. In fact, the "common person" the non-art educated viewer is sympathetically addressed throughout the work-with mixed results. To her credit, Kamhi takes a wide-ranging look at the visual arts, art criticism and aesthetic theory-with the aim of demystifying and giving the "average viewer" avenues for contesting the opinions of critics and pundits. Kamhi addresses her un-schooled readers with these encouraging words, … museum-goers would do well to skip the docents and audio-guides (one-way conduits for "expert" opinion) and take along a receptive friend or relative instead to talk about the work…trust yourself. You probably know a lot more about what makes for good art-because you know a lot more about life-the stuff of art-than you may think you do. (p.140) Up to a point I share Kamhi's suspicion of "expert opinion" on the arts. In fact I remind my own students that there is no "art police"-and one's judgments of artistic merit are exempted from any sort of moral or political authority. We are free to express our artistic likes and dislikes. However, we do need to explain why we have arrived at the conclusions we defend. And in this regard, Barrett (2003) provides a much better model for independent and critical responses to art than Kamhi/Rand. He too encourages the average viewer to draw their own conclusions and to arrive at their own judgments. However he provides a systematic approach, one that goes much beyond simply eschewing "expert" opinion and touring the galleries with a friend. Barrett, unlike Kamhi, asserts that while there are no "wrong" interpretations or judgments about art, interpretations and judgments run the gamut from well-founded and persuasive to outrageous and improbable. The trouble with Barrett, from Kamhi's point of view is of course that he does not rule out of hand the artistic merits of abstract art, and post modern confections of dubious value ie: Ophili's "Dung Madonna". And these are "errors" that Kamhi will certainly not tolerate. Doctrinal heresies mark the limits of the Kamhi/Rand perspective-and the book is filled with examples of creative works that are relegated to the outer darkness of "not-art". In addition to the narrow purview for what qualifies as art, (work that is mimetic, and that relies on classical skills such as academic drawing and painting) the text demonstrates the way in which the Kamhi/Rand "common sense approach" to art is rife with contradictions and logical inconsistencies. There is a dogmatic quality to Kamhi's exposition that narrows the debate and forces readers in a particular direction-solely on the basis of the authority of Ms. Rand's formulations. This ploy is simply to substitute one orthodoxy (the World of Art according to Rand) for another (High Modernism, Post Modernism). As such it is not very satisfactory, no matter how much one may sympathize with the position that some contemporary art and much contemporary criticism, is not worth the powder to blow it up.
Visual Inquiry, Aug 1, 2021
For your purposes as an art educator, how do you define ‘art’ and ‘artist’? Some critics argue th... more For your purposes as an art educator, how do you define ‘art’ and ‘artist’? Some critics argue that, in today’s art world, the ‘institutional’ definition of art reigns. What other definitions of art seem credible and useful to you as an art educator?
Art education, Mar 1, 2008
Arts Education Policy Review, 2006
The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, 2015
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Censorship of books and learning materials is a growing trend nationwide, according to responses ... more Censorship of books and learning materials is a growing trend nationwide, according to responses from a 1980 survey of 1,891 public elementary and secondary, school administrators and library personnel from across the country and of state administrators overseeing evaluation and adoption of textbooks in 21 states. This summary and interpretation of the survey findings discusses local and state views on textbook adoptious and challenges, presets overviews of local-and state-level survey results, and gives recommendations for establishing district policy on materials selection and fcr formulating responses when 'selections are challenged. The report includes comments from individual questionnaires as well as implications drawn by the researchers.. The authors conclude that challenges to classroom and library materials often result in limiting students' access to information and ideas. They found that many schools lack, or fail to follow, written policies for selecting and/or restricting instructional materials. Those schools that do have written policies, however, appear to resolve conflicts witu fewer restrictions on materials and, therefore, less negative impact on the educaonal environment. Responses to the state-level survey suggest that local and national pressure groups, especially those considered politically right-of-center, exploit controversy over textbook and materials selection fcr political ends.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2004
In this paper, the author asserts that current efforts to transform art education into visual cul... more In this paper, the author asserts that current efforts to transform art education into visual culture studies (VCS) constitute a deeply disturbing educational trend. She asserts that, much like the now largely discredited developments in literary studies of recent decades (whose ...
EJ256411 - Censorship vs. Selection--Choosing the Books Our Children Shall Read.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2006
Academic Questions, Oct 17, 2020
Academic Questions, Feb 25, 2021
Medical students are prudently taught to guard against the "Semmelweis reflex." Also known as the... more Medical students are prudently taught to guard against the "Semmelweis reflex." Also known as the "Semmelweis effect," it is the tendency to automatically reject new information or knowledge that contradicts prevailing norms or beliefs. The caveat stems from one of the most notorious debacles in
Academic Questions, Jul 22, 2022
For the crimes of challenging the National Arts Education Association’s rigid adherence to Critic... more For the crimes of challenging the National Arts Education Association’s rigid adherence to Critical Race Theory, transgender ideology, and “systemic racism,” as well as for questioning the assumption that art teachers are morally obliged to be “actively antiracist,” art critic Michelle Marder Kamhi has been booted from the NAEA Collaborate Community.
Academic Questions, Jul 22, 2020
The cancellation early this year of a very popular, long-standing Yale undergraduate survey cours... more The cancellation early this year of a very popular, long-standing Yale undergraduate survey course on Western art understandably provoked a considerable outcry among cultural conservatives. As the latest rejection of an allegedly outmoded canon focused on "dead white men," the move was clearly inspired by the current academic obsession with "diversity," consistent with other like-minded curricular changes and with the introduction of all-gender bathrooms at Yale. Specious claims made by the college's Art History Department to justify the cancellation were thoroughly dissected by Heather Mac Donald. 1 Her perspective was informed by her having taken the first half of the two-semester course ("Introduction to the History of Art: Prehistory to the Renaissance") in the 1970s, when it was presented by architectural historian Vincent Scully, whose charismatic teaching became legendary at Yale and beyond. As she trenchantly argued, killing the course is yet another capitulation to identity politics and its assault on Western civilization. The chief focus of the recent furor, however, was the course's second half: "Introduction to the History of Art: Renaissance to the Present" (Yale HSAR 115b). Had Mac Donald gone on to take that offering, she might have discovered that even under Scully's inspired tutelage, Western art history was already headed down a dubious path-one far more destructively consequential than viewing art through the distorting lens of "gender, class, and 'race'" as envisioned by Professor Tim Barringer, his latest successor.
Studies in Art Education, 2016
The answer to the question "Who says that's art?" is, "If Ayn Rand says so, then it's definitely ... more The answer to the question "Who says that's art?" is, "If Ayn Rand says so, then it's definitely art." No more mystery there. Kamhi explains in her preface that this book is an attempt at creating a more popular version of an earlier book on Ayn Rand's aesthetics-titled "What Art Is: The Esthetic Theory of Ayn Rand"(Kamhi & Torres, 2000). According to Kamhi the earlier book was effectively blacklisted by the art cognoscenti, so she determined to write a more accessible and popular version, for the lay public. In fact, the "common person" the non-art educated viewer is sympathetically addressed throughout the work-with mixed results. To her credit, Kamhi takes a wide-ranging look at the visual arts, art criticism and aesthetic theory-with the aim of demystifying and giving the "average viewer" avenues for contesting the opinions of critics and pundits. Kamhi addresses her un-schooled readers with these encouraging words, … museum-goers would do well to skip the docents and audio-guides (one-way conduits for "expert" opinion) and take along a receptive friend or relative instead to talk about the work…trust yourself. You probably know a lot more about what makes for good art-because you know a lot more about life-the stuff of art-than you may think you do. (p.140) Up to a point I share Kamhi's suspicion of "expert opinion" on the arts. In fact I remind my own students that there is no "art police"-and one's judgments of artistic merit are exempted from any sort of moral or political authority. We are free to express our artistic likes and dislikes. However, we do need to explain why we have arrived at the conclusions we defend. And in this regard, Barrett (2003) provides a much better model for independent and critical responses to art than Kamhi/Rand. He too encourages the average viewer to draw their own conclusions and to arrive at their own judgments. However he provides a systematic approach, one that goes much beyond simply eschewing "expert" opinion and touring the galleries with a friend. Barrett, unlike Kamhi, asserts that while there are no "wrong" interpretations or judgments about art, interpretations and judgments run the gamut from well-founded and persuasive to outrageous and improbable. The trouble with Barrett, from Kamhi's point of view is of course that he does not rule out of hand the artistic merits of abstract art, and post modern confections of dubious value ie: Ophili's "Dung Madonna". And these are "errors" that Kamhi will certainly not tolerate. Doctrinal heresies mark the limits of the Kamhi/Rand perspective-and the book is filled with examples of creative works that are relegated to the outer darkness of "not-art". In addition to the narrow purview for what qualifies as art, (work that is mimetic, and that relies on classical skills such as academic drawing and painting) the text demonstrates the way in which the Kamhi/Rand "common sense approach" to art is rife with contradictions and logical inconsistencies. There is a dogmatic quality to Kamhi's exposition that narrows the debate and forces readers in a particular direction-solely on the basis of the authority of Ms. Rand's formulations. This ploy is simply to substitute one orthodoxy (the World of Art according to Rand) for another (High Modernism, Post Modernism). As such it is not very satisfactory, no matter how much one may sympathize with the position that some contemporary art and much contemporary criticism, is not worth the powder to blow it up.
Visual Inquiry, Aug 1, 2021
For your purposes as an art educator, how do you define ‘art’ and ‘artist’? Some critics argue th... more For your purposes as an art educator, how do you define ‘art’ and ‘artist’? Some critics argue that, in today’s art world, the ‘institutional’ definition of art reigns. What other definitions of art seem credible and useful to you as an art educator?
Art education, Mar 1, 2008
Arts Education Policy Review, 2006
The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, 2015
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Censorship of books and learning materials is a growing trend nationwide, according to responses ... more Censorship of books and learning materials is a growing trend nationwide, according to responses from a 1980 survey of 1,891 public elementary and secondary, school administrators and library personnel from across the country and of state administrators overseeing evaluation and adoption of textbooks in 21 states. This summary and interpretation of the survey findings discusses local and state views on textbook adoptious and challenges, presets overviews of local-and state-level survey results, and gives recommendations for establishing district policy on materials selection and fcr formulating responses when 'selections are challenged. The report includes comments from individual questionnaires as well as implications drawn by the researchers.. The authors conclude that challenges to classroom and library materials often result in limiting students' access to information and ideas. They found that many schools lack, or fail to follow, written policies for selecting and/or restricting instructional materials. Those schools that do have written policies, however, appear to resolve conflicts witu fewer restrictions on materials and, therefore, less negative impact on the educaonal environment. Responses to the state-level survey suggest that local and national pressure groups, especially those considered politically right-of-center, exploit controversy over textbook and materials selection fcr political ends.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2004
In this paper, the author asserts that current efforts to transform art education into visual cul... more In this paper, the author asserts that current efforts to transform art education into visual culture studies (VCS) constitute a deeply disturbing educational trend. She asserts that, much like the now largely discredited developments in literary studies of recent decades (whose ...
EJ256411 - Censorship vs. Selection--Choosing the Books Our Children Shall Read.
Arts Education Policy Review, 2006
Today’s artworld experts accept virtually anything as art. But many art lovers reject the “cuttin... more Today’s artworld experts accept virtually anything as art. But many art lovers reject the “cutting-edge” inventions that fill museums and galleries of “contemporary art” worldwide.
Who Says That’s Art? explains why their view is right and the would-be experts are wrong. Drawing on evidence ranging from anthropology to recent findings of neuroscience, it offers a vigorous yet readily understandable defense of the public’s commonsense view of art. It also provides fresh insight into genuine art across the wide spectrum of art history, including both recent work and masterpieces from the past.
... of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Torres, Louis, 1938-What art is : the esthetic the... more ... of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Torres, Louis, 1938-What art is : the esthetic theory of Ayn Rand / Louis Torres and Michelle ... Randall Dipert, Peter Saint-Andre, and George Walsh, for their thought-provoking participation in the colloquium; and to Randy Dipert for ...