David Craven’s Future Perfect »
Third Text was deeply grieved by David Craven’s untimely passing on 11 February 2012. He was a valued contributor to the journal and a long-time member of our Advisory Board. David had initiated a special issue of Third Text on the art of the Mexican Revolution at the time of his death. This issue, completed by his collaborators at the University of New Mexico, will be published in homage in March 2014.
We are pleased to publish this retrospective review, thoroughly researched by his friend and colleague Brian Winkenweder, which traces the diverse influences on David Craven’s practice of a socially-engaged art history. Craven applied theories of historical materialism to assess the role art performs in the developing world. Special emphasis is given to the manner in which Craven blended the critical analysis of the Frankfurt school with the work of José Carlos Mariátegui and Meyer Shapiro to establish a unique voice in both art history and postcolonial studies.
Brian Winkenweder’s collection of David Craven’s writings, Art History as Social Praxis: the Collected Writings of David Craven, is shortly to be published by Brill, Leiden, as part of their Historical Materialism series.
Readers interested in David Craven: A Bibliography (1976-2011), from which the ‘Future Perfect’ essay derives, can obtain a copy (for a minimal charge of $10 to cover shipping and handling) by contacting Brian Winkenweder by email at bwinken@linfield.edu
