Pierre Bourdieu is now recognized as one of the key contemporary critics of culture and the visual arts. Art Rules analyses Bourdieu's work on the visual arts to provide the first overview of his theory of culture and aesthetics.

Bourdieu's engagement with both postmodernism and the 'problem of aesthetics' provides a new way of analysing the visual arts. His interest is in how artistic fields function and the implications their processes have for art and artistic practice.

Art Rules applies Bourdieu's theory of practice to the three fields of museums, photography and painting. These practical examples are used as a springboard to address visual arts in the 21st Century and to establish Bourdieu's 'Rules of Art'.

Michael Grenfell is Professor in the Faculty of Law, Arts and Social Sciences, University of Southampton.

Cheryl Hardy is Principal Lecturer at the University of Winchester.