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Source

Vision and Visuality

Foster, Hal (ed.) The New Press, New York 1988 Tier 2 Unverified Accessed 2026-04-30 View source ↗

Citation

Foster, Hal, ed. Vision and Visuality. Dia Art Foundation Discussions in Contemporary Culture, no. 2. New York: The New Press, 1988. ISBN not verified in this round.

(Note: The task brief listed the publisher as “Bay Press”; however, the Wikipedia article on Hal Foster (fetched 2026-04-30) lists the publisher as “The New Press.” The Wikipedia data is used here, labelled as not independently verified.)

Relevance

A Dia Art Foundation symposium volume bringing together essays and discussions on vision, visuality, and their ideological constructions. Contributors include Martin Jay, Jacqueline Rose, Norman Bryson, Jonathan Crary, and others. The volume develops the theoretical distinction between “vision” (a natural or universal optical function) and “visuality” (a historically and culturally constructed mode of seeing) — a distinction directly relevant to critiquing The Family of Man’s claim to represent a universal way of seeing and feeling across cultures. The Steichen exhibition presupposed a transhistorical, transcultural visual common ground; the Vision and Visuality framework challenges exactly that presupposition.

Tier 2: The New Press is an academic and progressive independent press; the Dia Art Foundation is an arts institution of record. Foster is October editorial board.

Key excerpts / pages

  • Access status (2026-04-30): No URL located. No Internet Archive record found in this session. No fetch attempted. Body text NOT consulted in this round.
  • Publisher (The New Press, 1988) and editor (Hal Foster) confirmed from Wikipedia article on Hal Foster (fetched 2026-04-30). The task brief listed “Bay Press” as publisher — the Wikipedia source overrides this; both are noted for transparency.
  • Contributor list (Jay, Rose, Bryson, Crary) carried from secondary citation in visual-culture literature; NOT verified against the book in this round.
  • No verbatim passage quoted from a primary fetch in this round.

Notes

  • The Dia Art Foundation “Discussions in Contemporary Culture” series was an influential venue for critical-theoretical exchange in the late 1980s; no. 2 is this volume.
  • Cross-reference to src-foster-1983-anti-aesthetic and src-foster-1985-recodings (earlier Foster publications in the same critical tradition). Cross-reference to src-krauss-1985-originality-avant-garde (related October theoretical project).
  • Cross-reference to src-sandeen-1995 (anchor for Family of Man reception history).
  • Publisher discrepancy note: the task brief (issue #86) lists “Bay Press”; Wikipedia (fetched 2026-04-30) lists “The New Press.” This entry follows the Wikipedia source, but a library catalogue check is needed to resolve the discrepancy. verified: false covers this uncertainty.
  • verified: false: No URL located; no fetch attempted. Publisher and year from Wikipedia (fetched 2026-04-30), with discrepancy noted. All other details carried from secondary citation; NOT verified against a primary source in this round.
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