Drawing Activities as Pedagogical Method in Art History

In recent years the availability of digital reproductions of present and past images has increased significantly, in many ways facilitating teaching in art history. Students of art history of today live in a society dominated by visual media and are supposed to be particularly adept to communicate through digital media. This seems as an ideal situation for teaching art history, and the use of drawing as pedagogical tool for students therefore seems to be irrelevant. This article describes the situation as more complex and problematic, due to the dislocation of the art object within the art historical knowledge system. In the article, the author also argues for the integration of drawing activities in art historical education as an important part in the multimodal discursive practice that art historical studies should be, alongside reading, writing, and speaking about art.