Twee gezichten op de campus van Yale University te New Haven before 1895

This black-and-white photograph captures two views of Yale University's campus in New Haven. Though the photographer is unknown and the exact date is lost, it offers a glimpse into the institutional and cultural landscape of American higher education. The images create meaning through visual codes and historical associations. The manicured trees lining the streets speak to the ordered, cultivated environment that elite institutions like Yale sought to project. The architecture, with its nods to European traditions, reinforces a sense of established authority and academic rigor. The absence of people in the frame, however, lends the scene an air of self-conscious formality. Yale, as a powerful institution, has inevitably played a role in shaping the production and reception of art, both through its own collections and through the education it provides. Art history is not just about individual genius, but also about the social conditions that shape artistic production, and research into institutional histories can reveal much about the complex interplay between art and power.