About the Book
Thomas Eakins’s 1875 painting The Gross Clinic, the Rocky statue, and the art collection under the stewardship of the Barnes Foundation are all iconic in Philadelphia for different reasons. But around the year 2000, they emerged as subjects of extended, impassioned conversations about their “appropriate” location. By revisiting these debates, Contested Image demonstrates how public reception transformed prominent elements of Philadelphia’s visual culture. It illuminates the messy process of public envisioning of place and the ways in which public dialogue shapes public meaning of both cities themselves and the objects of urban identity.
Contested Image is written for a multifaceted audience that includes scholars and their students as well as public art administrators, artists, and anyone who cares deeply about the visual culture of their city.
“Contested Image is a panoramic work, with careful attention to detail and certain application beyond Philadelphia.”
– Penny Balkin Bach, Executive Director and
Chief Curator of the Association for Public Art
“Contested Image is a powerful description of how art permeates the social and cultural fabric of a city…. Each case is a symbol of our city’s identity and soul. Holzman is to be commended for her deep understanding of the objects and institutions that have come to symbolize Philadelphia. Her work sits beautifully at the intersection of the public, private, social, civic, and aesthetic. This book is for all of us who love this city in all its complexities, quirks, and charm.”
– Jane Golden, Executive Director of Mural Arts Philadelphia
“Juxtaposing what seem at first glance to be three very different case studies that happen to occur in Philadelphia, Contested Image weaves a compelling history that links place, patrimony, and pop culture and ultimately questions what it means for artwork to become ‘public.’ By including the voices of not only the city’s cultural elite but also many people often left out of art world dialogues—the working class, advocates for the homeless—Holzman’s meticulously researched and engaging narrative stresses the importance of debate in creating public meaning, memory, and value and in so doing reveals a nuanced and multivalent identity for the City of Brotherly Love.”
– A. Joan Saab, Susan B. Anthony Professor of Art History and Visual and Cultural Studies and Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, University of Rochester
Read more about Contested Image:
Samuel Cepeda Hernandez, “Contested image: Defining Philadelphia for the twenty-first century” [review]. Visual Studies (2020).
Jennifer M. Black, “Review of Holzman, Laura M. Contested Image: Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century.” H-Pennsylvania, H-Net Reviews. November, 2020.
Kate Bonansinga, “Contested Image: Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century, by Laura M. Holzman.” Journal of Urban Affairs 42, no. 7 (2020).
Edward Slavishak, “Contested Image: Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century by Laura M. Holzman (review).” Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 87, no. 4 (2020).
Timothy J. Lombardo, “Envisioning Philadelphia: The Politics of Civic Identity in the City of Brotherly Love.” Journal of Urban History (2020).
Penny Balkin Bach, “Holzman, Laura M. Contested Image: Defining Philadelphia for the Twenty-First Century.” Public Art Dialogue 10, no. 1 (2020).
Pamela J. Forsythe, “Contested Image: Redefining the City Through Visual Culture.” Broad Street Review. May 2019.