Abstract
Images speak a different language from words. They tell stories differently. Yet, for many generations, since art history was legitimized as a discipline in American academia, early in the twentieth century, illustration has been treated with a measure of condescension. This essay contests that viewpoint. To disavow illustration is to bypass what counts for many viewers as a deeply heartfelt and intimate aspect of art viewing, not to mention one core to artists’ own creative processes, for very often art is made with stories consciously or preconsciously in mind. That prejudice, moreover, also shortchanges the stories themselves. The drive to invent imagery- -in all visual media–that corresponds to verbal tales is deeply entrenched as a motive in the psyche. Closely allied with dreaming, this drive deserves rethinking in light of a contemporary global culture that is turning ever more strikingly toward visual communication.
