Edward S. Cooke, Jr., the Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative Arts, has published Global Objects: Toward a Connected Art History with Princeton University Press (2022).
Art history is often viewed through cultural or national lenses that define some works as fine art while relegating others to the category of craft. Global Objects points the way to an interconnected history of art, examining a broad array of functional aesthetic objects that transcend geographic and temporal boundaries and challenging preconceived ideas about what is and is not art. Read more about the book at Princeton University Press.
Yale News featured the book in a recent article:
“Objects are messy,” says Yale art historian Edward S. Cooke Jr. Specifically, unlike objects typically called “fine art,” the stories of functional objects, such as furniture, textiles, and ceramics, are often neither chronological nor limited by a specific geography or culture. Yet, to have a fuller understanding of art history, he argues, we would do well to consider the stories of these pieces.
Read the full piece here.