Description
Book SynopsisConsiders how past thinkers - from Pliny and Alberti to Freud and Fried - have conceptualized the history of Western art. This book presents a defense of art history for those outside the field who question its reliability or even its importance.
Trade Review“This book brings profound issues into new and vivid focus.”
—Angus Trumble,Yale Center for British Art
“At a moment when the discipline of art history is in flux, beset by new methodologies and conflicting theories of what matters in a work of art, it is refreshing to find a seasoned scholar stepping back and calmly appraising the strengths and weaknesses of the profession.
Wittily, lightly, endearingly, the author convinces readers that room still exists for passion and generosity in dealing with the universe of wonders that is the world of art.”
—D. Pincus Choice
“This wise and thoughtful book would make an excellent text for a methodology course and should be read by all who are interested in the field. Emison’s reorientation of art history will seem confrontational to some, but for an old veteran like me, it was a very consoling read.”
—David Wilkins Renaissance Quarterly
“[The Shaping of Art History] would be a welcome read in an advanced undergraduate methodological survey, or even a master’s level survey of methods. Even the nonspecialist could become absorbed in it. Hundreds of sentences in this book are quotable.”
—Kathryn M. Rudy Sixteenth Century Journal
Table of ContentsContents
Acknowledgments
Preface
1. Why Not Just Write Biography?
2. Toward a More Chaotic Definition of Style
3. Venturing Somewhat Beyond Freud
4. Rated XX
5. The Bottom Line
6. Back to Idolatry?
Brief Bibliographies
List of Illustrations
Index
