'Which were the books that shaped art history as it developed in the twentieth century? This pioneering volume provides an invaluable roadmap of the field by reassessing the impact of several of the most important works of art history. Each of its sixteen incisive chapters, focusing on a single title, is written by a leading art historian, curator or one of the promising scholars of today. In bringing these cross-generational contributions together, the book presents a varied and invaluable overview of the history of art, told through its seminal texts.

'The sixteen books include Nikolaus Pevsner’s gospel of Modernism, Pioneers of the Modern Movement, Alfred Barr’s now legendary monograph on Matisse, E.H. Gombrich’s Art and Illusion, Clement Greenberg’s Art and Culture, which had a seismic impact when it was published in 1961, and Rosalind Krauss’s The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths, which introduced structuralist and poststructuralist thinking into art historical study.

'Initiated by and prepared under the auspices of The Burlington Magazine, each chapter — with writers including John Elderfield, Boris Groys, Susie Nash and Richard Verdi — analyzes a single major book, setting out its premises and argument and mapping the intellectual development of its author, discussing its position within the field of art history, and looking at its significance in the context both of its initial reception and its legacy.

'An introduction by John-Paul Stonard explores how art history has been forged by these outstanding contributions, as well as by the dialogues and ruptures between them. Supplementary documentation summarises the achievements of each art historian and provides a detailed publication history 
of their texts, with suggestions for further reading.

'Enlivening debates and questioning the very status of art history itself, The Books that Shaped Art History is a concise and brilliant study of the discipline and an invaluable resource for students, teachers, bibliophiles and all those interested in visual culture and its histories.' (Back Cover)

With 54 illustrations. Includes bibliographical essays and author biographies. 
Access level

Onsite

Location code
REF.SHR
Language

English

Keyword
Publication/Creation date

2013

No of pages

268

ISBN / ISSN

9780500238950

No of copies

1

Content type

anthology

Chapter headings

INTRODUCTION - John-Paul STONARD

CHAPTER 1 Emile Mâle: L'art religieux du XIIIe siècle en France: Etude sur l'iconographie du Moyen Age et sur ses sources d'inspiration, 1898 - Alexandra GAJEWSKI

CHAPTER 2 Bernard Berenson: The Drawings of the Florentine Painters Classified, Criticised and Studied as Documents in the History and Appreciation of Tuscan Art, with a Copious Catalogue Raisonné, 1903 - Carmen C. BAMBACH

CHAPTER 3 Heinrich Wölfflin: Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe: Das Problem der Stilentwicklung in der neueren Kunst, 1915 - David SUMMERS

CHAPTER 4 Roger Fry: Cézanne: A Study of His Development, 1927 - Richard VERDI OBE

CHAPTER 5 Nikolaus Pevsner: Pionners of the Modern Movement from William Morris to Walter Gropius, 1936 - Colin AMERY

CHAPTER 6 Alfred H. Barr, Jr.: Matisse: His Art and His Public, 1951 - John ELDERFIELD

CHAPTER 7 Erwin Panofsky: Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and Character, 1953 - Susie NASH

CHAPTER 8 Kenneth Clark: The Nude: A Study of Ideal Art, 1956 - John-Paul STONARD

CHAPTER 9 E. H. Gombrich: Art and Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation, 1960 - Christopher S. WOOD

CHAPTER 10 Clement Greenberg: Art and Culture: Critical Essays, 1961 - Boris GROYS

CHAPTER 11 Francis Haskell: Patrons and Painters: A Study in the Relations between Italian Art and Society in the Age of the Baroque, 1963 - Louise RICE

CHAPTER 12 Michael Baxandall: Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style, 1972 - Paul HILLS

CHAPTER 13 T. J. Clark: Image of the People: Gustave Courbet and the 1848 Revolution, 1973 - Alastair WRIGHT

CHAPTER 14 Svetlana Alpers: The Art of Describing: Dutch Art in the Seventeenth Century, 1983 - Mariet WESTERMANN

CHAPTER 15 Rosalind Krauss: The Originality of the Avant Garde and Other Modernist Myths, 1985 - Anna LOVATT

CHAPTER 16 Hans Belting: Bild und Kult: Eine Geschichte des Bildes vor dem Zeitalter der Kunst, 1990 - Jeffrey HAMBURGER

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS

The Books that Shaped Art History: From Gombrich and Greenberg to Alpers and Krauss
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The Books that Shaped Art History: From Gombrich and Greenberg to Alpers and Krauss