Visual studies and visual culture are widely taught, but it isn't clear what either might be. Art historian James Elkins unpacks our uneasy relation to "the visual" and offers an introduction to what visual studies might be. In a series of chapters written in his engagingly clear prose, he offers a pocket history of visual culture, an explanation of the concept of visual literacy, an introduction to the Benjamin and Foucault as their work illuminates visual studies, and goes on to examine key concepts in visual culture, among them the theory of the gaze, the idea of hybridity, the use of semiotics, the concept of the "scopic regime." This groundbreaking book ends with the challenging questions "what does visual culture teach, and why does it seem so easy?" Visual Studies offers a coherent introduction to one of the most dynamic and problematic areas across the humanities.

詹姆斯·埃尔金斯（James Elkins），美国芝加哥艺术学院美术史论与批评系主任。著有：《绘画与眼泪》、《视觉素养》、《视觉研究——怀疑式导读》、《图像域》、《身体的图像——痛苦与变形》、《何为绘画》、《我们的图像为什么会令人迷惑不解》、《为什么艺术是不能教的？》、《艺术批评怎么了？》以及《视觉品味——如何用你的眼睛》等。