W.J.T Mitchell
Background
W. J. T Mitchell (William John Thomas Mitchell born March 24,1942 in Anaheim, California is an American scholar and theorist who primarily focuses on media theory, the study of images and visual culture. He is widely regarded as one of the main contemporary founders of iconology and visual culture studies. He has been a long time professor of English and Art History at the University of Chicago in Illinois, and was given the Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service award for his contribution. His work primarily examines the function of images and iconography within the social, political and ideological and their interplay with different aspects of media.
For more than four decades he served as the editor of Critical Inquiry, a journal from the University of Chicago dedicated to publishing issues central to contemporary criticism and culture. He has also been a constant member and publisher of the MIT press journal October, focusing on politically intellectual publishing.
Mitchell received his B.A. from Michigan State University in 1963 along with his M.A and Ph.D from Johns Hopkins university in 1968. From 1968 to 1977 he taught in the English Department at the Ohio State University before moving to the University of Chicago in 1978 where he taught until 2020.
He has received numerous fellowships including from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Exxon Education Foundation and the American Philosophical Society for which he was elected as member in 2014 along with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.
Major Works
Blake’s Composite Art: A Study of the Illuminated Poetry (1978
His first book publication, a deep dive into the works of William Blake
Iconology: Image, Text, Ideology (1986)
The foundation for his work in iconology and the subsequent theorization of the study of images across media and their interaction with ideology and representation.
Picture Theory: Essays on Verbal and Visual Representation (1994)
The development of relations between verbal and visual representation
What Do Pictures Want? The Lives and Loves of Images (2005)
Mitchell’s most renowned publication explores the agency, needs and power of images in their influence over viewers in culture, arguing for the status of images as not inert but alive.
Cloning Terror: The War of Images, 9/11 to the Present (2011)
An application of his theories and critical explorations to the context of modern violence, trauma and warfare
Image Science: Iconology, Visual Culture, and Media Aesthetics (2015)
An extension of Mitchell’s theories to address the contemporary changes in mass media dissemination.
Key Concepts and Theoretical Contributions
Critical Iconology
A theorization of images beyond their aesthetic properties as art objects but through a critical perspective in their involvement in the spread of ideology, social function and historical contexts.
Agency in Images
Mitchell’s most noticeable work is his challenge of traditional hierarchies between text and image mediums, arguing for the agency of images in the search for their purpose as something inherent to them, affecting viewers, perception and interpretation.
Resemblance in Imagery
Mitchell argues that power is a relationship that comes into play within the relationship between Images and their audiences. He argues that this power comes from an Image’s ability to resemble other objects, mediums, ideologies, etc, giving them power over those who consume them.
References
- About. W.J.T. Mitchell. (2015, August 13). https://wjtmitchell.wordpress.com/about/
- Mitchell, W. J. T. (n.d.). W. J. T. Mitchell. Department of English Language and Literature, The University of Chicago. https://english.uchicago.edu/people/w-j-t-mitchell
- Mitchell, W. J. T., Neer, R., English, D., Donetti, D., Hamilton, A. J., Markey, L., Foxwell, C., Brittenham, C., Blom, I., Krause, K., Sullivan, M., Lin, W.-C., Warren, E., Hung, W., Pop, A., Mehring, C., Jackson, M. J., Elsner, J., MacLeod, C., … Taylor, K. F. (n.d.). Department of Art History. What Do Pictures Want? The Lives and Loves of Images | Department of Art History. https://arthistory.uchicago.edu/faculty/publications/what-do-pictures-want-lives-and-loves-images