Art History and Its Methods: A Critical Anthology

by Eric Fernie (Editor)

'Approaches' are probably more varied -- and more debated -- in the history of art than in any other branch of history, and a study of different historical approaches is becoming an increasingly important component of many student courses. In this anthology of art-historical writings from the Renaissance to the present day, key texts have been chosen in which the authors reflect 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 lucid and readable summary of art-historical methods, and each of the texts is accompanied by a commentary that places it in context and discusses the issues it raises. Also provided is a critical glossary of terms and a select bibliography.

Genres: Art History, Art, Nonfiction, Reference, History, Textbooks, Academic

384 pages, Paperback

First published July 9, 1995

Reviews

[Martin Ridgway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike most books that classify themselves as "readers" (collections of writings about a subject) this one goes for long extracts. Most readers of this length feature a lot of short extracts (something like Art and its Histories edited by Steve Edwards, which was used on the same Open University course and has 89 texts in less pages) . Fernie has just 27 and, as a word of warning, uses smaller type. Hence each writer featured here is given space to make their points without too much editing by Fernie. In my opinion, this makes for a much more useful book, though not one for dipping into at leisure - it's a more serious approach.

[jakira · Rating 4 out of 5]

this feels weird to "rate" but a pretty solid anthology of some of the most critical theoretical and methodological texts/approaches in the field

i really appreciated the glossary at the end -- this is def a 'textbook' i foresee myself returning to

[Jonathan]

Rebind

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

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