Yu Tsukada | Toward a Further New Theory of Images: A Review of 'Adventurers of Image Theory' edited by Osamu Maekawa, Morihiro Sato, and Nobuhiro Masuda (Part 1)
A review of 'Adventurers of Image Theory,' organizing key theorists in art history and photography/film theory.Summary
This article is the first part of a review of 'Adventurers of Image Theory' (University of Tokyo Press, 2026), edited by Osamu Maekawa, Morihiro Sato, and Nobuhiro Masuda. The book surveys 24 major overseas theorists who have discussed images in aesthetics, art history, photography/film theory, and anthropology. The review focuses on art historians and photography/film theorists, grouping them into lineages. In art history, it contrasts Ernst Gombrich with John Berger, framing the gap as that between traditional art history and the New Art History, and notes further diversification through Hans Belting's anthropology and Linda Nochlin's feminism. In photography/film theory, it traces a line from Roland Barthes's 'studium' and 'punctum' through Susan Sontag to W. J. T. Mitchell's 'pictorial turn' and Lev Manovich's new media theory. The review argues that these discussions have been updated over more than a century by connecting to political, social, and technological contexts. The second part is scheduled for October 2, 2026.
(Source：artscape)