The Forms and Fictions of Victorian Art Instruction

The Victorian period gave rise to revelatory new approaches to art instruction. A growing investment in standardized education, the rise of exhibition culture, and an expanding body of literature devoted to the teaching of art all contributed to very public and sometimes contentious debates about art pedagogy.
The Victorian period gave rise to revelatory new approaches to art instruction. A growing investment in standardized education, the rise of exhibition culture, and an expanding body of literature devoted to the teaching of art all contributed to very public and sometimes contentious debates about art pedagogy. Surveying a range of instructional scenarios-from the schoolroom to the Royal Academy - The Forms and Fictions of Victorian Art Instruction reveals the creative and even radical methods nineteenth-century writers brought to questions that inform educational debate to this day. What is the role of art in the learning process? Should art instruction provide students with practical skills, or does art defy such instrumental concerns? Above all, is it possible for art instruction to impose structure on the learning process while also nurturing the creative autonomy art demands? Through an interdisciplinary and deeply historical account of art instruction that incorporates fiction, poetry, art manuals, and innovative hybrid genres, this book contends that nineteenth-century writers defended the educational value of art by abandoning expository writing in favor of highly experimental literary forms. In this way, The Forms and Fictions of Victorian Art Instruction supplies a new history of art teaching—one that sheds light on the educational and cultural dilemmas we continue to face today.

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