Art history and visual culture are closely related disciplines that examine the art of the past and present. Art history is the study of works of art in their historical context, looking at the political, social, religious and philosophical influences that shaped them.
Visual culture is a broader field that encompasses art history but also looks at the ways in which people interact with images, including through digital media. It examines how images are used to create meaning and shape our understanding of the world.
The two disciplines have different approaches to studying visual culture. Art history focuses on analyzing particular works of art from different eras, while visual culture applies a more interdisciplinary lens to understanding how images are used in society.
Art history looks at how particular objects were created and shaped by the cultural moment in which they were produced. Visual culture looks at how these objects are interpreted and interacted with in various contexts today.
For example, an art historian might look at an 18th-century oil painting and consider the impact it had on its viewers when it was first made. In contrast, a student of visual culture might analyze how that painting is used today – for example, in popular media or as part of a museum exhibit – to understand its current relevance and meaning.
Both art history and visual culture draw on a range of tools from other disciplines such as anthropology, sociology and psychology to examine works of art from different angles. Art historians use these tools to understand how certain elements of paintings or sculptures communicate ideas about their historical context, while those studying visual culture use them to explore how these objects are interpreted within contemporary society.
Visual culture also encompasses fields such as digital media studies, which focus on understanding how images are circulated online through social media platforms like Instagram or Snapchat and what this means for people’s relationship with images today. This field has become increasingly important due to its relevance to our everyday lives; digital media has greatly impacted our interaction with artworks across all disciplines, from fine arts to film studies.
Conclusion: Art history and visual culture are closely related fields that provide insight into both past and present cultures through their examination of works of art. While they have some similarities, each field takes its own approach: art history focuses on analyzing particular works from different eras while visual culture looks at how those same objects are interpreted within contemporary society today. Digital media studies has become an increasingly important part of visual culture due to its role in shaping our relationship with images.