In 1991 Fessler was invited by Steve Dietz, editor of American Art, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, to create Artist Pages for the quarterly publication. The result was the first incarnation of her book Art History Lesson, which was bound as a separate signature inside the magazine. The pages that flanked each side of the book were printed with gold ink and each had a small image of a woman’s face from Poussin’s painting Rape of the Sabine Women. Enlarged from the small, black-and-white reproduction of the painting from Fessler’s own college textbook, H. W. Janson’s History of Art, the women appeared to look with dismay at the book inserted between them.

As the reader turned the pages, a quote from Janson’s History of Art describing Poussin’s philosophy as it applied to Rape of the Sabine Women was revealed.  On the last page of the book, Fessler concluded with the words “Required reading, Art History 101, 102, and 103”, making the point that these massive survey textbooks are often used for multiple courses in introductory classes where students may not have the critical skills to question authoritative texts.

American Art, National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 1991,
Published by Oxford University Press in association with the National Museum of American Art, Volume 5, Number 4; Artist Pages, Art History Lesson by Ann Fessler, Baltimore, Maryland, 1991

The Art History Lesson insert was subsequently published as an artist’s book with a binding that replicated Janson’s History of Art.