Katana VentraIP

Art history

Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context.[1] Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, art history examines broader aspects of visual culture, including the various visual and conceptual outcomes related to an ever-evolving definition of art.[2][3] Art history encompasses the study of objects created by different cultures around the world and throughout history that convey meaning, importance or serve usefulness primarily through visual representations.

This article is about the academic discipline of art history. For an overview of the history of art worldwide, see History of art. For other uses, see Art history (disambiguation).

As a discipline, art history is distinguished from art criticism, which is concerned with establishing a relative artistic value for individual works with respect to others of comparable style or sanctioning an entire style or movement; and art theory or "philosophy of art", which is concerned with the fundamental nature of art. One branch of this area of study is aesthetics, which includes investigating the enigma of the sublime and determining the essence of beauty. Technically, art history is not these things, because the art historian uses historical method to answer the questions: How did the artist come to create the work?, Who were the patrons?, Who were their teachers?, Who was the audience?, Who were their disciples?, What historical forces shaped the artist's oeuvre and how did he or she and the creation, in turn, affect the course of artistic, political and social events? It is, however, questionable whether many questions of this kind can be answered satisfactorily without also considering basic questions about the nature of art. The current disciplinary gap between art history and the philosophy of art (aesthetics) often hinders this inquiry.[4]

Timeline of prominent methods[edit]

Pliny the Elder and ancient precedents[edit]

The earliest surviving writing on art that can be classified as art history are the passages in Pliny the Elder's Natural History (c. AD 77–79), concerning the development of Greek sculpture and painting.[5] From them it is possible to trace the ideas of Xenokrates of Sicyon (c. 280 BC), a Greek sculptor who was perhaps the first art historian.[6] Pliny's work, while mainly an encyclopaedia of the sciences, has thus been influential from the Renaissance onwards. (Passages about techniques used by the painter Apelles c. (332–329 BC), have been especially well-known.) Similar, though independent, developments occurred in the 6th century China, where a canon of worthy artists was established by writers in the scholar-official class. These writers, being necessarily proficient in calligraphy, were artists themselves. The artists are described in the Six Principles of Painting formulated by Xie He.[7]

Divisions by period[edit]

The discipline of art history is traditionally divided into specializations or concentrations based on eras and regions, with further sub-division based on media.

Professional organizations[edit]

In the United States, the most important art history organization is the College Art Association.[27] It organizes an annual conference and publishes the Art Bulletin and Art Journal. Similar organizations exist in other parts of the world, as well as for specializations, such as architectural history and Renaissance art history. In the UK, for example, the Association of Art Historians is the premiere organization, and it publishes a journal titled Art History.

Bildwissenschaft

, a database of notable art historians maintained by Duke University

Dictionary of Art Historians

Fine art

Rock art

Theosophy and visual arts

Nelson, Robert S.; Shiff, Richard, eds. (2003). Critical Terms for Art History (2nd ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.  978-0226571683.

ISBN

Sources

(1915, trans. 1932). Principles of Art History; the problem of the development of style in later art. [New York]: Dover Publications.

Wölfflin, H.

Hauser, A. (1959). The philosophy of art history. New York: Knopf.

Arntzen, E., & Rainwater, R. (1980). Guide to the literature of art history. Chicago: American Library Association.

Holly, M. A. (1984). Panofsky and the foundations of art history. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press.

Johnson, W. M. (1988). Art history: its use and abuse. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Carrier, D. (1991). Principles of art history writing. University Park, Pa: Pennsylvania State University Press.

Kemal, Salim, and Ivan Gaskell (1991). The Language of Art History. Cambridge University Press.  0-521-44598-1

ISBN

Fitzpatrick, Virginia L. N. V. D. (1992). Art History: A Contextual Inquiry Course. Point of view series. Reston, Virginia: National Art Education Association.  978-0937652596

ISBN

Minor, Vernon Hyde. (1994). Critical Theory of Art History. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

Adams, L. (1996). The methodologies of art: an introduction. New York: IconEditions.

Frazier, N. (1999). The Penguin concise dictionary of art history. New York: Penguin Reference.

Pollock, G., (1999). Differencing the Canon. Routledge.  0-415-06700-6

ISBN

Harrison, Charles, Paul Wood, and Jason Gaiger. (2000). Art in Theory 1648–1815: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Minor, Vernon Hyde. (2001). Art history's history. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

. (2001). Feminism – Art – Theory: An Anthology, 1968–2000. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.

Robinson, Hilary

(2001). Farewell to an Idea: Episodes from a History of Modernism. New Haven: Yale University Press.

Clark, T. J.

Buchloh, Benjamin. (2001). Neo-Avantgarde and Culture Industry. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Mansfield, Elizabeth (2002). Art History and Its Institutions: Foundations of a Discipline. Routledge.  0-415-22868-9

ISBN

Murray, Chris. (2003). Key Writers on Art. 2 vols, Routledge Key Guides. London: Routledge.

Harrison, Charles, and Paul Wood. (2003). Art in Theory, 1900–2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas. 2nd ed. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.

Shiner, Larry. (2003). . Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-75342-3

The Invention of Art: A Cultural History

Pollock, Griselda (ed.) (2006). Psychoanalysis and the Image. Oxford: Blackwell.  1-4051-3461-5

ISBN

Emison, Patricia (2008). The Shaping of Art History. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.  978-0-271-03306-8

ISBN

(2014), The Spiritual Dynamic in Modern Art : Art History Reconsidered, 1800 to the Present.

Charlene Spretnak

(2014) The Spiritual Rococo: Décor and Divinity from the Salons of Paris to the Missions of Patagonia. Farnham: Ashgate.

Gauvin Alexander Bailey

Kleiner, F. S. (2018). : A Global History. 16th edition. Boston: Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1337630702

Gardner's Art Through the Ages

John-Paul Stonard (2021) Creation. Art Since the Beginning. London and New York: Bloomsbury  978-1408879689

ISBN

Media related to Art history at Wikimedia Commons

Art history at Wikibooks

Quotations related to Art history at Wikiquote

in-depth directory of web links, divided by period

Art History Resources on the Web