Perspective as Symbolic Form

by Erwin Panofsky, Christopher Wood (Translator)

Erwin Panofsky’s Perspective as Symbolic Form is one of the great works of modern intellectual history, the legendary text that has dominated all art-historical and philosophical discussions on the topic of perspective in this century. Finally available in English, this unrivaled example of Panofsky’s early method places him within broader developments in theories of knowledge and cultural change.

Here, drawing on a massive body of learning that ranges over ancient philosophy, theology, science, and optics as well as the history of art, Panofsky produces a type of “archaeology” of Western representation that far surpasses the usual scope of art historical studies.

Perspective in Panofsky’s hands becomes a central component of a Western “will to form,” the expression of a schema linking the social, cognitive, psychological, and especially technical practices of a given culture into harmonious and integrated wholes. He demonstrates how the perceptual schema of each historical culture or epoch is unique and how each gives rise to a different but equally full vision of the world.

Panofsky articulates these distinct spatial systems, explicating their particular coherence and compatibility with the modes of knowledge, belief, and exchange that characterized the cultures in which they arose. Our own modernity, Panofsky shows, is inseparable from its peculiarly mathematical expression of the concept of the infinite, within a space that is both continuous and homogenous.

Genres: Art, Art History, Architecture, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, History

200 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1927

About the author

Erwin Panofsky was a German art historian, whose academic career was pursued almost entirely in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. In 1935, while teaching concurrently at New York University and Princeton University (something he continued to do his entire career), he was invited to join the faculty of the newly formed Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. From 1947 to 1948 Panofsky was the Charles Eliot Norton professor at Harvard University.

Panofsky's work remains highly influential in the modern academic study of iconography. Many of his works remain in print, including Studies in Iconology: Humanist Themes in the Art of the Renaissance (1939), and his eponymous 1943 study of Albrecht Dürer. His work has greatly influenced the theory of taste developed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, in books such as The Rules of Art or Distinction. In particular, Bourdieu first adapted his notion of habitus from Panofsky's Gothic Architecture and Scholasticism.

Reviews

[William West]

I still enjoy re-reading Panofsky. In a bizare twist, I randomly met his granddaughter in a Wallgreen's.

[Wout · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hmmmm, ik had meer diepgang gewild over filosofische ontwikkelingen die de evolutie van het perspectief beïnvloed hebben. Ook heb ik zeker vier keer moeten lezen hoe het Antieke perspectief werkt en begreep het pas na een video... heel erg moeilijk geschreven.

[Chrisanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this when I was absolutely dazzled in the beginning of my MA program. Not sure if I would keep it that way.

[Maya · Rating 1 out of 5]

actively trying to block this out rn

[aj rosean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Postmodernism is what happens when man spends too much time away from saber tooth tigers… do you people have anything better to do?

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lei pocos artículos sobre perspectiva, y siempre citaban a este libro, por lo que no me siento muy capacitada para una buena reseña. Peero, sí puedo decir que se me hizo una lectura muy densa. Probablemente si no hubiera estado apurada para leerlo por la facultad, hubiera comprendido más. Sin embargo, algo que sí me distrajo bastante de la lectura principal, fueron las notas. Son demasiado largas, y se termina perdiendo el hilo de a qué venían a cuento. Habiendo dicho eso, es una lectura muy completa y por más que no entiendas mucho de matemáticas (como yo), si no se le lresta atención a nada más, se puede seguir(de a ratos ahre).
Probablemente con una segunda lectura comprendería más.

[Hayk Martirosyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perspective transforms psychophysiological space into mathematical space.

[Max Maslansky · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book you can get on the history and symbolic function of perspective in Western Art

[Enya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ostico, con note difficilissime da districare, l’essay è di 50 pagine le note di 60, gli esempi pittorici a cui fa riferimento sono tutti relegati in una sezione del libro e sprovvisti di ulteriori spiegazioni o richiamati dal testo in maniera chiara. Assolutamente non scritto in maniera divulgativa e richiede una buona conoscenza matematica e geometrica perché si avvale di molteplici teoremi e formule matematiche per spiegarsi. Detesto l’impostazione che ha scelto perché quando pensi di aver capito un concetto vedi il numerino della nota che ti riporta a sei pagine di spiegazioni che sembrano essere scritte alla rinfusa e che aprono decine di quesiti senza risposta. Veramente una delle letture più difficili che abbia avuto la fortuna di essermi stata rifilata dalla mia università. Non lo consiglierei al mio peggior nemico, ogni barlume di intuizione geniale che ti può portare a realizzare è accompagnata dalla fatica di riuscire ad assorbirla.

[Alejandro Orradre · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un ensayo corto pero extremadamente denso -tanto que le daré una segunda e incluso tercera lectura- en el que Panofsky muestra su amplio conocimiento sobre la composición artística, en concreto sobre la perspectiva; su importancia dentro del arte y evolución desde la Antigüedad hasta nuestros días, cómo se "reincorporó" su uso durante el Renacimiento para quedarse hasta la llegada del expresionismo.

Sin duda alguna La persepectiva como forma simbólica es una lectura obligada para quien esté estudiando Historia del Arte, para cualquier artista o simplemente para personas a las que les guste aprender y ampliar conocimiento.

[Barış · Rating 3 out of 5]

one thesis, brief disposition, clear argumentation. might be just for my taste and also makes decent contributions to heidegger's quest for destruction of metaphysics, but his willingness to subdue any understanding of a possible presence to patterns of western artistic know-how repels me back to arendt, since the thesis of the book seems just a technical and illustrated explanation of how the work replaced action, not a unique deal.

[H. Isikgun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perspektifin antik dönemdeki bakış açısından rönesans içindeki gelişimine ve modern dönemdeki etkilerine kadar uzanan, bol kaynaklı ve resimlerle örnekli bir şekilde düzenlenmiş müthiş zengin bir kitap.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would rate it 4.5, but round down due to the fact that the notes for an essay is longer than the essay itself. It makes for a very difficult and dense read to jump back and forth in the book, but overall, a remarkable essay.

[Emily Laurent-Monaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Impressive footnotes + textual values

[Heather Larcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another class book. Read just the core, not the intro or the notes, but it is an interesting perspective on perspective.

[Sara Hasanova]

Anlayamadım.

[Andres Martinez Delgado · Rating 4 out of 5]

Libro complicado y muy técnico.

[Lucas Porras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aunque a veces excesivamente técnico y literato para quien busca una lectura rápida y agradable, tiene ideas buenísimas

[Aradh]

Full of mistakes

[Eva136246 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Knap lastig, maar ook interessant

[Megangoldberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm feeling a little distracted tonight... something about you is keeping my mind out of the gutter... but maybe it should be there.

[aida · Rating 3 out of 5]

ph 0

[Chiara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book amazingly good. Panofsky is a great art theorist and historian, with a deep knowledge and a clear and rich writing style. This book speculates on the birth of Perspective and on its prominent role in the developings of Western Art. Surely it's not the simplest book you'll come across, but it's dense contents are nonetheless expressed in a beautifully clear way.

[René Venegas]

Algo confuso, ciertamente se necesita una clase o dos de teoría del arte para enteder "la carne" de este libro, como siempre algo interpretativo, pero acertado y bien argumentado, un clásico de la historia del arte

[km · Rating 4 out of 5]

my art hum professor was SOOOO smart and made me love everything we so much as touched in that class

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title pretty much sums up the book. This book kind of thrilled me.

[Cristina]

Escribe de maravilla y todo está muy claro... O eso pienso hasta que el profesor de Renacimiento hace preguntas extrañas sobre el temario.