I bought two second hand books on-line recently: Diana & Nikon – Essays on the Aesthetic of Photography (1980), by Janet Malcolm; and Art and Photography (1974) by Aaron Scharf. One thing that struck me (apart from the former being nine times the price of the latter) was that both came from withdrawn stock: the Malcolm from the Worthington High School Library, Worthington, Minnesota; and the Scharf from the History of Art Department, Glenalmond College, Perth.
Well, their loss is my gain, but it does prompt the question as to why they were withdrawn. Not because they were worn out through use in these two cases; and not because both institutions have closed down, their web sites suggest they are prospering. Have the insights of the authors been replaced by more penetrating analysis, or by something that’s simply seen as being more up to date? I doubt it and anyway historical views are important in understanding how interpretations evolve, or at least one would hope that educational institutions thought so. More likely it’s another sign of the demise of arts teaching in favour of those ‘useful’ disciplines that offer routes to ‘productive’ jobs, the world of bounty and bonuses.