Art History and its methods

Approaches to the history of art are probably more varied - and more debated - than in any other branch of history, and a study of different historical approaches is becoming an increasingly important component of many academic courses. This anthology of art-historical writings from the Renaissance to the present day has a particular focus, for key texts have been chosen in which the authors themselves reflects on the nature of their subject and on their own methods of inquiry. Included are texts by Vasari, Winckelmann, Burckhardt, Wolfflin, Panofsky, Gombrich and Pollock, among others. The introduction gives a summary of art-historical methods, and each of the texts is accompanied by a brief commentary which places it in context and discusses the issues it raises. Also provided is a critical glossary of art-historical terms, a brief biography of each of the historians, and a select bibliography.
Contents: Texts on methods with introductions; Critical glossary of concepts; Bibliography; Index. Giorgio Vasari - lives of the artists, 1958; Carel van Mander - Dutch and Flemish Painters, 1604; Giovanni Bellori - the idea of the painter, the sculptor and the architect chosen from the higher natural beauties of nature, 1672; Johann Winckelmann - history of ancient art, 1764; Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Von deutscher Baukunst, 1772; Jakob Burckhardt - reflections on history, 1872; Giovanni Morelli - Italian painters, 1880; Alois Tiegi: late Roman art industry, 1901; Heinrich Wolfflin - principles of art history, 1915; Paul Franki - principles of architectural history, 1914; Roger Fry - reflections, 1920; Henri Focillon - the world of forms, 1934; Alfred H. Baff - chart of modern art, 1936; Erwin Panofshky - the history of art as a humanistic discipline, 1940; Nikolaus Pevsner - an outline of European architecture, 1943; Arnold Hauser - the scope a limitations of sociology of art, 1959; Susan Sontag - against interpretation, 1964; E.H. Gombrich - in search of cultural history, 1967; William Fagg - studying primitive art, 1973; T.J. Clark - the conditions of artistic creation, 1974; John Onians - art history, Kinstegschichte and historia, 1978; Michael Baldwin, Charles Harrison and Mel Ramsden - art history, art criticism and explanation, 1981; Svetlana Alpers - interpretation without representation, or the viewing of Las Meninas, 1983; Hans Belting - the end of the history of art?, 1984; Griselda Pollock - Feminist interventions in the history of Art, 1988.