Rethinking American Art: Collectors, Critics, and the Changing Canon -- Theodore E. Stebbins Jr, Hardcover

"This is a book the field of American art has been waiting for."--Dr. Kathleen Foster, Curator, Philadelphia Museum of Art

A sweeping history of changing critical standards and values in American art across 200 years.

Each generation of experts believes their own taste is the last word, confident in their opinions about the art that was the best of their time.

As the author writes, "People are inclined to view past changes in taste as unique misjudgments that will not happen again....How unthinking, how stupid, they think, not realizing that the pattern has been repeated again and again in the past and will be in the future. We now recognize that the process is a continual one. Each past canon was established for good reason; there are no mistakes, there is only history. Many of the favored artists of any period including our own will drop from favor, something that art dealers never tell their clients, or museum curators their boards."

Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., was in the center of every development in American art collecting and exhibitions from 1960 well into the 2000s. He is uniquely able to put recent shifts in the canon within the context of a regular, generational shift in taste that tells us much about the value that is placed on art--including who decides what matters and what does not.

Profusely illustrated, fascinating, controversial, deeply informed, Rethinking American Art is for anyone who wants a greater understanding of the forces that shape the world of art. Art lovers, perplexed why their favorite artists are no longer on the walls of their local museums, will find an incisive view of why change is constant. All art lovers will find a cautionary lesson about the unpredictable future.


Author: Theodore E. Stebbins Jr
Publisher: David R. Godine Publisher
Published: 10/28/2025
Pages: 432
Binding Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 9781567928341

About the Author

Theodore E. Stebbins Jr. is the Curator of American Art, Emeritus,
Harvard University, and formerly Curator of American Art, Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston. He is the author of a dozen books on art and artists and has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Boston University.