If the word culture, as Raymond Williams once pointed out (Williams, 1976, p. 76), is among the most complicated words in the English language, what can anyone hope to achieve by clapping the word visual in front of it? Not surprisingly, the use of the term visual culture among scholars of art, film, and media is quite varied. For many it simply refers to forms of imagery beyond the pale of traditional fine art, such as film, mass-produced prints, and advertisements. For others the term signifies something procedural: the method of study or the set of questions and themes that occupy a particular body of scholarship. For yet others the term marks a significant turn in the practice of art history, which involves pedagogical as well as political commitments that depart from traditional art historical practice. No discipline takes images with the single-minded seriousness of art history, and...