The New School

Visual and Cultural Studies

Study Questions: "Introduction" [MM]

1. What does Fer mean when she says, "[W]orks of art may legitimately invite speculation." [emphasis added] What is "context" and what role does it play in our understanding of a work of art?

2. What is the point of Fer's discussion of "modernity" (pps. 6-15)?

3. What does it mean to say that a textual description (representation) and a painting are in a reciprocal relation to one another? What is implied by this characterization? Do you agree? Explain?

4. What is the difference between depiction and representation? What is Fer's point in making this distinction?

5. How does the issue of context and point of view relate to the spectator? the artist?

6. What point is Fer making in her discussion of Carl Andre's Equivalents?

7. How is Mary Kelly's work related to the concept of modernism?