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FROM NATIONS TO NETWORKS: AN ANALYSIS OF NORTH AMERICAN WORLD ART HISTORICAL DISCOURSE DURING THE TRANSCULTURAL TURN, AND THE RISE OF THE MUSEUM AS AGENT by NATHALIE N. HAGER B.A., High Honours in Art History, Carleton University, 1997 M.A., Canadian Art History, Carleton University, 2000 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Interdisciplinary Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) February 2020 © Nathalie N. Hager 2020 The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: FROM NATIONS TO NETWORKS: AN ANALYSIS OF NORTH AMERICAN WORLD ART HISTORICAL DISCOURSE DURING THE TRANSCULTURAL TURN, AND THE RISE OF THE MUSEUM AS AGENT submitted by Nathalie N. Hager in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dr. Hussein Keshani Supervisor Dr. Robert Belton Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Suzanne Gott Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Jessica Stites Mor University Examiner Dr. Claire Farago External Examiner Additional Committee Members include: Carolyn MacHardy Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Franciso Peña Supervisory Committee Member ii Abstract This dissertation offers an analysis of the emergent English-language discourse of World Art History in North America during the transcultural turn in art history. It inquiries into what World Art History is by examining how the proposal for World Art History is impacting twenty-first century North American art historical theory and scholarship, and assesses the relevance of World Art Historical discourse for scholars of global contemporary art. With a targeted focus on the museum as a site leading in the development of World Art Historical research principles—including an original Canadian case study examining the National Gallery of Canada’s biennial exhibition series—it also assesses whether, and to what degree, a turn to World Art History effectively responds to the criticism of persistent Eurocentrism in the discipline. I argue that World Art History encompasses a series of moves that elasticize and often collapse the political borders, cultural boundaries, and racializations that have long bound together the European nation-state as the (artificial) construct upon which Western art history as a discipline—and the project of Western self-hood itself—is built. Further, I argue that in its challenge to the nation-state, World Art History questions not only the discipline’s ideological roots but also its signature methodologies and theoretical frameworks to reimagine the current Western-facing disciplinary frame in ways that re-orient and widen it according to a new global perspective. While many critics view these widening moves as creating an epistemological break with the discipline of art history and as presenting a serious and substantial threat, I argue that World Art History can be reconciled with the discipline. World Art History, currently a set of research principles corresponding with notions of networks of connection and exchange, signals a paradigm shift within the discipline of art history: by shifting parts of the discipline away from national histories and area studies towards modes that foreground connection and exchange, World Art History frames new types of inquiries around the historical reality of the interconnectedness of art and its history, and establishes the fundamental basis for evaluating research findings generated from these newly-mapped and now visible connections. iii Lay Summary More than twenty years ago, British art historian John Onians ignited a debate within the discipline of art history when he proposed that art history transform itself into World Art History—a new approach to the study of all the world’s art based not on organizing objects according to national lines and Euro-American standards, but on seeking out connections between objects and their makers across nations, world regions, and time. But many art historians believe that abandoning the discipline’s signature organizational system—key in forging national identities—will lead to its eventual demise. This dissertation argues that the emergence of World Art History signals a paradigm shift within the discipline of art history that can be seen as a reorientation of the field, and not as a break. It also argues that this shift is necessary in the age of globalization. iv Preface This dissertation is an original and independent work by the author, Nathalie N. Hager. “Chapter Six: Exhibiting and Collecting a National and International Canada” draws upon some of the socio-historical framework outlined in my master’s thesis, “The Ideal and the Pragmatic: The National Gallery of Canada’s Biennial Exhibitions of Canadian Art, 1953–1968” (2000). Each of these instances have been clearly cited by footnotes. The three appendices—A.1 Apollo 11 Cave Stones, A.2 Anthropomorphic Stele, and A.3 Running Horned Woman—were written by me and published by https://Smarthistory.org on November 21, 2015, December 31, 2015, and April 30, 2016, respectively under a Creative Commons licence. v Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ........................................................................................................................... iv Preface .......................................................................................................................................v Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................x Dedication ................................................................................................................................ xi Chapter One: Introduction .........................................................................................................1 Context: The Nation-State as Paradigm ................................................................................4 Overview .............................................................................................................................16 Methodologies ....................................................................................................................20 The Data Set ........................................................................................................................29 Key Terminology ................................................................................................................32 Contributions to the Field ...................................................................................................51 PART ONE – THEORY AND SCHOLARSHIP ....................................................................55 Chapter Two: Debating World Art History .............................................................................56 The World Art History Debate ...........................................................................................61 Phase One: Onians’ Proposal .........................................................................................62 Phase Two: Critical Engagement ...................................................................................68 Phase Three: Theorizing and Refining Approaches ......................................................79 Phase Four: Challenging the Nation-State Thesis .........................................................86 World Art History as Theoretical Discourse ......................................................................93 vi Art History, The Study of Art, and the History of Art ...................................................95 World Art History or Global (Art) History? ..................................................................98 (Western) Art History as a Global Enterprise ..............................................................102 World Art History and the Global Contemporary ............................................................107 Chapter Three: Practicing World Art History ........................................................................112 World Art History as Scholarly Discourse .......................................................................113 The Geography of Art ..................................................................................................115 Global versus Local .....................................................................................................117 Trade Networks ............................................................................................................124 Encounters ...................................................................................................................132 Cultural Exchange ........................................................................................................134 Centre versus Periphery ...............................................................................................144 Circulations ..................................................................................................................147 Networks of Connection and Exchange ............................................................................151