The Dark Side of the Canon: Art History’s Dirty Laundry

Abstract

The Dark Side of the Canon: Art History’s Dirty Laundry investigates the Western art canon’s hidden biases, examining how systems of power, this includes racism, sexism, and heteronormativity that have determined which artworks and artists are celebrated. Rather than centring on the individual figures, this dissertation critiques the structures that shaped the canon itself: the moral authority of Christianity, the influence of colonial expansion, and the cultural ideals that elevated white, cisgender, heterosexual male creators as “universal geniuses.” By analysing these patterns in history, this study reveals how art history’s so-called neutrality was always rooted in some type of exclusion and hierarchy.