A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

David Raskin

Professor, Mohn Family Professor of Contemporary Art History

Bio

David Raskin is the Mohn Family Professor of Contemporary Art History at SAIC.

He earned his Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Texas, his M.A. in Art History and Criticism from Stony Brook University, and his A.B. in Visual Arts and Psychology from Brown University. He teaches seminars on Ekphrastic Writing and topics in Modern and Contemporary Art, including Minimalism, Pop, Postminimalism, Jackson Pollock, Vito Acconci, Rosalind Krauss, Michael Fried, Andy Warhol, and “feedback” in installation, performance, and video art.

Many institutions have supported Raskin’s scholarly work and research, including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Wyeth Foundation for American Art, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Whitney Museum.

Raskin’s pioneering monograph, Donald Judd (2010), has been reviewed or noted in more than 26 publications, including Art History, Art Journal, Burlington Magazine, The Art Newspaper, and The Times Literary Supplement. His other writings are widely read, and he has contributed essays to catalogs of exhibitions at the Tate Modern, London; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Ludwig Museum, Cologne; Ca’ Pesaro Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venice; and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.

Experience at SAIC

Mohn Family Professor of Contemporary Art History (2000). Chair: Department of Sculpture; Chair: Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism; Chair: Fiscal Affairs, Faculty Senate Committee; and Chair: Faculty Contract and Tenure Review Board.

Selected Books

  • Jose Dávila. Contributor, 2023. 
  • Barry x Ball: Medardo Rosso Project. Contributor, 2019. 
  • Sam Falls. Contributor, 2018. 
  • Joel Shapiro. Contributor, 2017.
  • Matt Siber: Idol Structures. Co-author, 2015. 
  • Noriyuki Haraguchi. Co-author, 2014. 
  • Jo Baer. Contributor, 2013.
  • The Language of Less (Then and Now). Contributor, 2011.
  • Donald Judd. Author, 2010; 2019 reissue. 
  • Olle Bærtling: A Modern Classic. Contributor, 2007
  • Midwestern Unlike You and Me: New Zealand's Julian Dashper. Co-author, 2005. 
  • Donald Judd. Co-author, 2004. 

Selected Essays

Art History; Art Journal; Art in America; New Art Examiner; Arte Al Dia International; Art Criticism; Art History Versus Aesthetics; Encyclopedia of Aesthetics; The Burlington Magazine; Common Knowledge; caa.reviews; ASAP Journal; Bomb Magazine.

Personal Statement

SAIC is an exciting place to practice art history and ekphrasis. I am part of a large department of modern and contemporary art specialists with diverse perspectives and areas of expertise. When teaching, my main goal is to have a lively conversation in which the entire class looks at the art we are studying and uses it to debate broader social, political, and philosophical issues. The wider art school community is a vibrant place where artists, critics, and scholars come together to ask the same question when confronted by masterpieces from history and the work inside their studios: why does art matter now?

In my research practice, I tell stories about art that situate the moment of its encounter within art-historical scholarship. My goal is to probe personal experiences for their broader cultural implications. I ask what we expect from art, why we have these desires, and how art satisfies or frustrates these needs. I published my first essay on art in 1994 as a participant in the famed Whitney Museum Independent Study Program and my first creative nonfiction story 30 years later, in 2024.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This undergraduate seminar is for all types of writers (critics, creative writers, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person.
Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Ben Lerner, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others.
Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.

Class Number

1096

Credits

3

Description

This undergraduate seminar is for all types of writers (critics, creative writers, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person. Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Ben Lerner, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Zadie Smith, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others. Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.

Class Number

2249

Credits

3

Description

Incorporating daily visits to the Art Institute of Chicago, this seminar will examine the history of European and American art from the 1870s to the twentieth century through the focused engagement with objects in the museum collections. Class time will be divided between classroom lectures, discussions of daily reading assignments, and museum visits. In all of these, students will be expected to take an active participatory role. Course topics will be determined in relation to the collections on view, but recurring questions will focus on materiality and display.

Class Number

1281

Credits

3

Description

Incorporating daily visits to the Art Institute of Chicago, this seminar will examine the history of European and American art from the 1870s to the twentieth century through the focused engagement with objects in the museum collections. Class time will be divided between classroom lectures, discussions of daily reading assignments, and museum visits. In all of these, students will be expected to take an active participatory role. Course topics will be determined in relation to the collections on view, but recurring questions will focus on materiality and display.

Class Number

1011

Credits

3

Description

Senior Thesis I is designed to guide senior BA in Art History (BAAH) students through the first half of their yearlong capstone project: a senior thesis. This course will equip students with the skills to develop an advanced art historical research project. Students will evaluate possible topics and methodologies via research questions. They will then draft, revise and submit a project proposal, outline, annotated bibliography, and research plan, and turn in 10 or more pages of the thesis as the final assignment. The course will also hone their abilities as interlocutors of the work of their fellow students, as students will regularly present to the rest of the class on their progress while participating in group reviews of their colleagues. There will also be individual mentoring sessions with the professor at junctures throughout the term that will orient students toward more individualized research and writing in the Spring term and second half of Senior Thesis.

Prerequisites: Art History Survey requirement; ARTHI 2900, 'Sophomore Seminar: Writing Art History'; student must be enrolled in the BAAH or BFAAH program.

Class Number

1130

Credits

3

Description

This class is the second component of a two-semester class that equips senior students earning a BAAH or a BFA with Art History Thesis with the skills to develop an advanced art historical research project, in this case: the senior thesis. It provides writers working on independent research projects with structure, guidance, constructive criticism, and a supportive peer community for discussion of their work in progress. Writers meet regularly with the instructor and their classmates to develop their ideas, address problems, and steer their projects to completion. The course combines individual mentoring of students as they engage in the sustained research and writing of a capstone project, with exposing students to a range of art historical professions and coaching students to prepare for careers in art history. The focus of this development from students to professionals, is both on the ethics of professional conduct in the field of art history as well as the content of various art historical careers. To this end, students will research, prepare, and submit one career-related written proposal, such as graduate school application, residency application, conference presentation proposal, publication submission or other.

Class Number

1075

Credits

3

Description

This graduate seminar is for all types of writers (creative writers, critics, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary, paraliterary, and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation, and their interdisciplinary intersections and boundaries. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person.
Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary or paraliterary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Ben Lerner, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Rachel Cohen, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others.
Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.

Class Number

1186

Credits

3

Description

This graduate seminar is for all types of writers (creative writers, critics, and scholars) who want to analyze the dimensions of literary, paraliterary, and scholarly forms of description, interpretation, and explanation, and their interdisciplinary intersections and boundaries. Poetry, short stories, personal essays, passages from novels, and art-history articles will form the ground for weekly encounters with works of art in the Art Institute of Chicago, as we compare what we read to what we encounter in person.
Each class meeting has a tripartite structure, as we compare a literary or paraliterary engagement with a work of art, evaluate a scholarly argument about the same piece or its creator, and personally engage the same or similar work in the Art Institute of Chicago. We will respond to the works of art currently on display, and, as warranted, pair the appropriate scholarship with creative works by writers such as Ada Limón, Victoria Chang, Hilton Als, Ben Lerner, Diane Seuss, Mark Doty, Hanif Abdurraqib, Wayne Koestenbaum, Vivek Shraya, Cris Kraus, Teju Cole, Eileen Myles, Gwendolyn Brooks, Paisley Rekdal, Rachel Cohen, Jeffrey Yang, and John Ashbery, among others.
Students will write concise analyses of every reading assignment plus a weekly follow-up reflection as preparation for a final hybrid research paper that situates their personal moment of encounter with a work of art in the Art Institute of Chicago within art-historical scholarship. The goal is for students to probe their personal experiences with art for wider cultural implications.

Class Number

2318

Credits

3