“Knowledge” or “Progress?”: Do They Have to Be Mutually Exclusive?

I appreciate Susan Vogel's essay on “The Long View,” and she highlights many important concerns and frustrations about the state of the field. She takes issue with the American museum's shift in priorities from historical African art—which makes up the majority of collections from the African continent— to contemporary, made most visible by the hiring of contemporary specialists for historical collections or leaving them without curators altogether. I agree that there needs to be a rich grounding in the nuanced visual vernacular that is, perhaps, the most diverse field of art. But what is that exactly? I have closely studied, poured over the literature, exposed myself to visual material in the field, at auction, and in museum, gallery, and private collections all over the world, and yet, I regularly come across works that I cannot quite place, that I have never seen before, that I cannot confidently say whether they...