Crow - The Practice of Art History in America

8/12/2019 Crow - The Practice of Art History in America

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The Practice of Art History in America.

by Thomas Crow

Publication Information: Article Title: The Practice of Art History in

America. Contributors: Thomas Crow - author. Journal Title: Daedalus.

Volume: 1!. "ssue: #. Publication $ear: #%%&. Pa'e (umber: )%*.

C+P$,"HT #%%& American Academy of Arts and ciences/

C+P$,"HT #%%& ale rou0

... the moment 2ust 0ast is e3tin'uished fore4er5 sa4e for the thin'smade in it."

--George Kubler, The Shape of Time (1)

As the name for a disci0line5 6art history6 enacts a syntactical clash

e4ery time it is uttered or written. 7hich is the 0rinci0al term5 which

its modifier8 The two elements in their cou0lin' confront one

another in an undecided hierarchy. The more decorous substitute5

6history of art56 0uts the wei'ht on the ob2ect that history is calledu0on to ser4e5 but its currency is less--and in the shorthand of

e4eryday s0eech5 4irtually nil. There is5 of course5 a lar'e measure

of con4ention5 common to most 9uro0ean lan'ua'es5 in the

0articular use of the term 6art6 to desi'nate 0aintin'5 scul0ture5

drawin's5 0rints5 and more distantly; architecture. "n any e4ent5 it

0rimarily denotes a ran'e of 0hysical ob2ects. "ts true5 much wider

a00lication to any creati4e 0ractice or 0roduct 'enerally re


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humanistic disci0lines8

The fact that the 4isual arts successfully lay claim to a 'eneral5

honorific desi'nation as Art may lie--and this is s0eculati4e--in the

0hysically endurin' nature of the artifacts that fall under such a

descri0tion. =iterature can manifest itself in any le'ible transcri0tion5

and the 0erformin' arts of music and theater can con2ure 0hysical

actuality from a score or scri0t5 but fidelity to any ori'inal enactment

can ne4er be secured--dance is e4en less traceable beyond li4in'

routine and memory. >y contrast5 the intricate 0hysical remains on

which art history concentrates its attention are the actual thin's

fashioned and handled by the sub2ects of history themsel4es.

Therein lies a ri'htness in the obdurate 0air of nouns that name the

disci0line. George Kubler1?1#-1??&;5 the 'reat s0ecialist in both

colonial 0anish architecture and 0re-Columbian art5 was one of the

rare American scholars of his 'eneration to address the theoretical

under0innin's of a disci0line o0eratin' under this desi'nation. He

li@ened the 'ae of the art historian to that of the astronomer5

concerned with a00earances noted in the 0resent but occurrin' in

the 0ast.... Howe4er fra'mentary its condition5 any wor@ of art is

actually a 0ortion of an arrested ha00enin'5 or an emanation of 0ast

time. The initial commotion entailed in the ma@in' of an art ob2ect

sur4i4es--as does no other creati4e act--as a uni


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0reser4e a si'nificant5 if not absolutely com0lete5 in4entory of its

0articular traits and structural com0le3ity. >y this " do not mean to

say that artists and craftsmen do not o0erate under a confinin'

series of sti0ulations and constraints5 but these are the standard

conditions of all human acti4ity5 within which art 0roduction is

e3ce0tional in the sco0e it 0ro4ides for nuanced emotional

e30ression as 0art and 0arcel of its social utility.

The difficulty5 it hardly needs statin'5 lies in inter0retin' this 0hysical

commotion from the 0ast that arri4es in our midst li@e a tra4eler

throu'h time. Bubler obser4es in The ha0e of Time that there is

nothin' in the cultural record so resistant to analysis and

inter0retation as the sin'le wor@ of art. ; Hence the necessary

recourse to schemes of 'eneraliation and com0arison around which

arise the endless dis0utes that5 in effect5 constitute the history of

the disci0line. >ut the uni


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these sur4i4als of Bubler6s distant commotions ha4e made them

amon' the most sou'ht-after 0ossessions in the modern world. A

scholarly inter0retation is5 in its way5 as much a claim on the ob2ect

of art as any other.; As mar@et 0rices are continually bid u0 to le4els

incommensurable with 4irtually any other cate'ory of human

artifact5 0owerful 0layers in the system--0ublic and 0ri4ate--can

im0ose demands for flatterin' affirmation that run counter to the

re


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unsustainable relic of the 0ast. The 'lobal entre0reneurshi0 of the

u''enheim useum5 of which the =as Ve'as franchise is 2ust one

0art5 has thri4ed on the disdain of museum traditionalists5 which has

only ser4ed to enhance its intended aura of 0ostmodern 'lamour

and friendliness toward 0o0ular culture. >ut these latest e0isodes

directly echo the 0rocess by which the 'reat e3em0lars of 9uro0ean

fine art came to this country in the first 0lace. election and

0romotion by entre0reneurs li@e the Du4een brothers 0laced this

le'acy in the hands of ilded A'e ma'nates who had 'rown

sta''erin'ly wealthy on the leadin' industries of the era--rail5 oil5

and steel--but were still short of the reoth of these new institutions of art stri4e to 0resent ob2ects of art

in a manner that is as deracinated5 as di4orced from the

circumstances under which they arose5 as human in'enuity can

contri4e. Paintin's that satisfied the courtly a''randiement of

,ussian 0otentates come to stand in 0erfectly isolated s0lendor

a'ainst the 0itted reddish-brown walls of industrial steel sti0ulated

by architect ,em Boolhaas. "n no en4ironment could the 4isitor be

less encoura'ed to 0robe the internal com0lications of any one of

them5 that is5 to search out the telltale im0rints of the 0articular

0ast commotion that brou'ht each one into bein'. The cult that

surrounds the dis0laced ob2ects in all of America6s museums reach a

@ind of 0ure e3treme in this5 their ultimate desert out0ost. A


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layered5 intricately wor@ed 0hysical artifact ho4ers before the eyes

as an 6ima'e56 that is5 a mental e4ent/ and its 0romise 0oints

e3clusi4ely toward the realm of 0leasure--the sin'le-minded 0ur0ose

of the entire built en4ironment in which they find themsel4es.

9lucidatin' fully the sources and wide effects of this 0henomenon

would re


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beha4ior Pin@er can only com0rehend in terms of some im0osed5

0artisan a'enda: if art holds a mirror u0 to nature5 then modernism

re0resents a willful cam0ai'n to assert that the social world itself

had lost all harmony with 2ust human needs and as0irations. !; >ut

any scholar of art could inform him that artists and their 0atrons

ha4e5 o4er those millenia5 2ust as often sou'ht to elicit somatic and

emotional res0onses that lie far from the loci of 0leasure. The entire

'amut of human feelin' and @nowled'e has been fair 'ame for

artists since the ad4ent of the first man-made ob2ect to which we

assi'n a more than utilitarian 4alue citin' 9rwin Panofs@y6s de'ree-

ero definition of art;. &; As often as not5 the decidedly un0leasant

e30eriences of intimidation5 'uilt5 e3clusion5 taboo5 and dread ha4e

been the intended effect of the ob2ects that come under the scrutiny

of the art historian. Ta@e the colossal stone bloc@ bearin' the

ferocious li@eness of the Atec 'oddess CoatlicueFCihuacoatl5 with

her monstrous countenance of o00osed rattlesna@e 0rofiles

emer'in' from her se4ered nec@5 which today constitutes one of the

artistic 'lories of the (ational Anthro0olo'ical useum in e3ico

City. Consider the ran'e of emotions li@ely to ha4e been felt in its

0resence by any 0otential 4ictim of the 0riest6s obsidian @nife5 and

then try to e


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closely lined order, but the system of artistic invention

was abruptly transformed, as if large numbers of men had

suddenly become aware that the inherited repertory of forms

no longer corresponded to the actual meaning oexistence....

The nature of artistic invention therefore relates more

closely to invention by new postulates than to that

invention by simple confrontation which characterizes the

useful sciences. (7)

A 0ostulate on the order of the heliocentric 0lanetary orbits5 the

mo4ement of tectonic 0lates5 or5 indeed5 natural selection itself can

force as abru0t and to many as frea@ish; a reorderin' of co'nition

as the eru0tion of a new5 antinaturalistic set of criteria for success in

0aintin'. "n fact5 o4er the millennia e4o@ed by Pin@er5 naturalistic

de0iction has been the e3ce0tion rather than the rule thou'h the

technical barriers to its achie4ement are


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The tas@ of understandin' such a moment necessarily entails a

0atient un0ac@in' of a 0rocess5 many layers of which are only 0artly

4isible or indeed entirely obscure to the immediate5 untutored

'lance. Picasso6s =es Demoiselles d6A4i'non5 0erha0s the 0rime

moment in this 0rocess of translation5 has en2oyed 2ust such an

un0ac@in' by =eo teinber'5 the recondite scholar of =eonardo da

Vinci and Hi'h ,enaissance art. G; The wor@6s le'ions of admirers

share with art historians li@e Bubler and teinber' a fascination with

the moment of in4ention and with the creati4e act itself5 into which

this 0rime modernist wor@ finds ways to draw its s0ectators--and the

same could be said of an e


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then5 mi'ht yield only uncoordinated fra'ments of @nowled'e: the

disiecta membra of the history of human action and thou'ht. "n the

history of art5 howe4er5 the student is conducted to the s0irit of an

e0och by his most direct sense5 the eye ... whichI 0ro4ides a

history ca0able of e30osition within the narrow limits of time and

effort which ha4e been left for such inte'ratin' disci0lines by the

multi0licity of the modern colle'e curriculum. ?;

(o hint here that the 0ro0er un0ac@in' of e4en one re0resentati4e

ob2ect re


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inte'rate a new and more human ci4iliation5 in a new and more

reasonable world. And that is unity of faith. 11;

A 'ood deal of faith5 in fact5 underlies this 0ronouncement5 as it sets

aside the distinct 0ossibility that the eclectic cor0us of medie4al

ob2ects 0resent in American 0ublic collections could themsel4es

a00ear as so many disiecta membra5 cut off from one another and

di4orced from their ins0irin' ori'inal conte3ts. Porter sim0ly 'a4e u0

the stru''le5 retirin' to a castle on a remote "rish coast5 there to

shut out the modern world amid his 0ious rural clients. The more

0ractical orey sou'ht a less drastic solution/ he cham0ioned the

fashionin' of an architectural 0astiche from the architectural remains

of fi4e rench monasteries--financed by the de4out John D.

,oc@efeller5 Jr.--in order to create the Cloisters museum in (ew $or@5

where the bul@ of the etro0olitan useum6s medie4al ob2ects ha4e

come to be housed. The Cloisters5 he wrote5represent the maturity of #merican museum planning to$ards

the e!ocation of the mediae!al scene.... The rugged height

of %ort Tryon par pro!ided a typical monastic site, and the

cloisters, halls, and details of fi!e %rench monasteries

furnished the core of the architectural comple, $hich $as

brought to consistency by &udicious

copying of necessary elements from other South %rench

abbeys.... 'n the landscaping, most difficult of all

mediae!al aspects to recapture, a great deal of diligent

research resulted in a con!incing lay-out of monastic

orchards, and e!en included a garden of medicinal herbs

conforming to a arolingian list of the year 1*. (1*)

The yearnin' of fantasy is 0al0able in this 0assa'e. The Cloisters can

boast the actual stones of the iddle A'es5 and the inter4enin'


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decades ha4e lent the com0le3 its own 0atina of a'e5 but the

conce0tual difference between its re-creations and those of the =as

Ve'as Venetian ha4e remained more a matter of de'ree than of

@ind. As the Cloisters o0ened in 1?G5 the unfoldin' 0oliticalcatastro0he in 9uro0e was sur0assin' the worst fears these

American medie4alists may ha4e harbored for their own culture.

Touchstones of 9uro0ean artistic achie4ement had been arri4in' in

America 0iecemeal o4er the 0re4ious half-century/ in a burst5 the

cream of +ld 7orld scholarly achie4ement in inter0retin' those

ob2ects followed5 as a wa4e of Jewish art historians sou'ht refu'e

across the Atlantic. The "nstitute of ine Arts5 housed within (ew$or@ ni4ersity5 established itself in a few short years as the 0eer of

any "4y =ea'ue 0ro'ram by incor0oratin' the lar'est number of

refu'ee 9uro0eans. "ts director5 7alter Coo@5 li@ened his initiati4e to

the acecause the disci0line6s traditional core in the study of classical

anti


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reco'nied erman dominance5 the one field of cons0icuous

American in4estment and 0resti'e to that date had been in early

Christian and medie4al art. This influ3 of talent from the erman-

s0ea@in' s0here was bound to undo the medie4al idyll of art history

in the nited tates. "t further set the sta'e for a mar@ed e30ansion

of the field in the aftermath of 7orld 7ar "". 7ithin the elite

uni4ersities5 the increasin' ease and fre


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art history in fa4or of conce0tually sim0le and often mechanical

tas@s: decodin' icono'ra0hy5 tracin' fra'ments of dis0ersed

ensembles5 identifyin' hands5 datin'. Ascertainin' 0oints of fact that

9uro0ean scholars--and other humanists in America--would re'ard

as 2ust the startin' 0oint for inter0retation became sufficient

2ustification for a successful research career. "r4in' =a4in5 until

recently the lon'-ser4in' 0rofessor of art history at the "nstitute for

Ad4anced tudy5 has been forthri'ht about the 0eda'o'y offered by

those miraculously translated 9li2ahs brin'in' the 'ood word from

the +ld 7orld to the (ew5 'oin' so far as to celebrate as a lost

'olden a'e the times when Panofs@y would hand o4er to e4ery

member of his seminars a s0ecific new idea or disco4ery of his own5

2ust waitin' for the enter0risin' 'raduate student to wor@ u0 into an

article. 1E;

(ot to underestimate the difficulty of detecti4e wor@ freecause of the inherent charisma of 9uro0ean

master0ieces5 'enerous 0atrons were willin' to 0ro4ide an

e3ce0tional le4el of financial su00ort for fellowshi0s and study


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centers abroad. As the center of the field shifted5 than@s to the

emi're influ35 toward the "talian ,enaissance and >aro


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wor@ was accom0lished in the 1?!%s and 1?&%s5 the system

nonetheless wor@ed a'ainst this collecti4e acumen comin' to'ether

in such a way that it could ta@e the study of 4isual art to the ne3t

intellectual le4el. This has in fact ha00ened o4er the last three

decades--and An'lo0hone art history has in the 0rocess come to set

the 0ace for the world. >ut the system had to chan'e before what

was still an immature body of thou'ht and 0rocedures5 too lon'

di4erted to nonco'niti4e ends5 could truly 'row u0.

The 0ersistence of the old system de0ended on conditions that could

be maintained for only so lon'. Chief amon' these was @ee0in' the

research a'enda of art history close to the centers--both

'eo'ra0hical and chronolo'ical--that the first 0ostwar 'eneration

commanded. +f the many forces that undid that restricted com0ass

was the 0ro'ressi4e shift of interest amon' new entrants to art

history toward the modern 0eriod5 meanin' rou'hly 7estern art

since the mid-nineteenth century. Durin' the same years that John

D. ,oc@efeller5 Jr.5 was financin' the medie4alists6 dream at the

Cloisters5 his forward-loo@in' wife5 Abby Alrich Roc!efeller5

0lanted the seed of this de4elo0ment. In "#$#, %ith the su&&ort

of t%o female friens, she establishe the Museum of Moern

Art in 'e% (or!.They chose a youn' art history instructor from

7ellesley Colle'e5 Alfred >arr5 as the museum6s foundin' director.

And >arr used his 'rowin' collection and landmar@ s0ecial

e3hibitions to stam0 a historical schema on the art of the 4ery

recent 0ast where none had e3isted before.

The early 0ro'ram of the museum included 'estures toward nati4e

artists and 4ernacular forms consistent with a 0hilanthro0ic mission


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in De0ressionera America. >ut the heart of its acti4ities5 li@e those of

the ilded A'e collectors and academic medie4alists5 lay in the

im0orted culture of 9uro0e. The distinction of >arr6s enter0rise

resided in the fact that the 9uro0eans themsel4es were not

0roducin' a com0etin' body of scholarshi0 or museolo'y. 7ritin' in

the early 1?!%s5 Panofs@y ac@nowled'ed that a systematic history of

modern 9uro0ean art had re


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art remained distinctly mar'inal com0ared to the established sub2ect

areas from classical anti


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0lace to an artwor@6s internal relationshi0s and transformations of

ac@nowled'ed 0recedents and 0rototy0es thereby brac@etin'

historical determination and the conse


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un@nown drawin's5 4ariants5 contracts5 recorded icono'ra0hic

0ro'rams5 ori'inal locations of ob2ects--that had inculcated in

'enerations of art historians a stron' set of s@ills in archi4al

research. And a further latent stren'th lay in the eut

when these cate'ories of analysis were 0ut bac@ to'ether5 they were

to s0ar@ a collecti4e release of 0ent-u0 ener'y and a reco4ery of lost

time.

9ach 0hase in the de4elo0ment of American art history a00ears to

re


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art as

solely a field of indi!idual en&oyment, $ithout reference

to ideas and

moti!es, and they presuppose the culti!ation of these

pleasures as the

highest field of freedom for an enlightened bourgeois

detached from

the official beliefs of his class. 'n en&oying realistic

pictures of

his surroundings as a spectacle of traffic and changing

atmospheres,

the culti!ated rentier $as eperiencing in its phenomenal

aspect that

mobility of the en!ironment, the maret and of industry to

$hich he

o$ed his income and his freedom. #nd in the ne$

'mpressionist

techni0ues $hich broe things up into finely discriminated

points of

color, as $ell as in the "accidental" momentary !ision, he

found, in a

degree hitherto unno$n in art, conditions of sensibility

closely

related to those of the urban promenader and the refined

consumer of

luury goods. (*1)

"t would be difficult to o4erestimate the de'ree to which this sin'le

0assa'e antici0ated the later de4elo0ment of the disci0line. "t is a

mar@ of the time in which it was written 1?); that cha0iro was by

4ocation a youn' scholar of medie4al art. And his ability to en4ision

this schematic but 0rescient 0ro'ram for the inter0retation of early


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modernism coincided with his sin'le-handed effort within that

subfield to counter the certainties of Porter and orey with an

alternati4e intellectual model. The ar3ist 0edi'ree e4ident in much

of cha0iro6s 4ocabulary 0oints to his 0reoccu0ation with conflict andchan'e in the arts of ,omanes


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fissures5 discre0ancies5 and contradictions on which the e3ce0tional

artist had to im0ose some resolution5 all without re0ressin' the

fractious hetero'eneity of the conce0ts and technira


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disaffected subcultures were re0ositionin' and creati4ely redefinin'

mass-0roduced 0roducts. #&;

The first of these strands had a head start in America5 lar'ely

throu'h the 0rescient efforts of Annette ichelson5 a scholar of

a4ant-'arde cinema who e3tended her reach to the contem0orary

4isual arts in a way that has made her one of its most formidable

intellects. #); ettled at (ew $or@ ni4ersity after an e3tended

so2ourn in Paris5 she would 2oin with ,osalind Brauss the leadin'

scholar of modernist scul0ture5 who was then 'uidin' a small5

insur'ent 0ro'ram at the C($ raduate Center; in buildin' on this

new foundation and encoura'in' an im0ressi4ely so0histicated circle

of youn'er art historians and critics that had 'athered around their

2ointly edited 2ournal +ctober. Acceleratin' the incor0oration of all

three currents into a unified 0ro2ect was the arri4al of T.J. Clar@5 a

youn' >ritish art historian who s0ent an initial 0eriod at C=A durin'

the mid-1?)%s5 mo4in' later to Har4ard before settlin' at C

>er@eley. "n his wor@ on im0ressionism5 Clar@ returned to the

territory for which cha0iro had 0ro4ided a rou'h ma0 in 1?).

Alon'side much archi4al research in the s0irit of >en2amin6s

noteboo@ citations for the Arcades 0ro2ect5 Clar@ brou'ht to bear a

new analytical 0enetration of the internal wor@in's of indi4idual

0ictures5 one that made concrete and detailed cha0iro6s acute but

'eneralied characteriations of Parisian modern-life 0aintin'.

A stri@in' e3am0le of this occurs in his discussions of those motifs

that most easily lent themsel4es to comfortably brain-soothin'

harmonies: scenes of strollers and yachtsmen on the ban@s of the

eine6s 'reat cur4es north and west of the city. HIere was a


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sub2ect5 Clar@ states5 which lent itself normally to sim0le rhythms

and shar0 effects: sails bendin' in unison5 ri''in' arran'ed in casual

'eometries5 reflections laid out as counter0oint to the world abo4e.

#G; 7hile can4ases by Claude onet5 Pierre-Au'uste ,enoir5 or

Alfred isley most ob4iously fall under this characteriation5 Clar@

'i4es 0ride of 0lace to a 0aintin' li@e Canotiers a Ar'enteuil by

9douard anet5 the older artist who had led the way for the lar'er

im0ressionist 'rou0. "n the summer of 1G)E5 when anet fashioned

this wor@5 his friend onet was li4in' in the suburban town of its

title5 then a transitional settlement of wee@end 4illas5 boat basins5

and intrudin' factories in search of a4ailable land and ri4er access.

And the a4ant-'arde 0ainters who 'ra4itated to such locations

formed a mar'inalied subculture in themsel4es5 one com0elled to

im0ro4ise an identity in the as yet ill-defined s0aces of metro0olitan

0leasure and consum0tion.

The 'ranular de'ree of detail in Clar@6s e3tended account of the

0aintin' does not 0ermit the succinctly summariin'


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an edge, insisting on the stiffness of a pose or the

bluntness of blue

against yello$. This is the pictures o!erall language--

this

a$$ardness of intersection, this dissonance of colour....

%or

eample, the han of rope $hich hangs o!er the orange side

of the boat

to$ards the right. 2o doubt $e decipher the fleced rope

and the

fluffy tassel $ithout too much difficulty, and proceed to

eamine the

more elusi!e trail of paint $hich starts do$n from the

gun$ale, bends,

and seems to peter out into the orange--peter out for no

good reason.

#nd in due course the eye maes sense of the situation3 $e

begin to

see the $andering line as a shado$, and reali4e e!entually

that the

orange surface is not--as it first assumed to be--simply

flat. 't is

cur!ed, it is conca!e/ and the cur!e eplains the peculiar

shado$ and

is eplained by it--or, rather, is half eplained and half

eplaining3

the broen triangle of brushstroes is not mended 0uite so

easily, and

ne!er entirely pro!es the illusion it plays $ith. 't stays

painted, it

stays on the edge of a lieness. (*5)


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historians. The boo@ that launched the wa4e was ichael >a3andall6s

The =imewood cul0tors of ,enaissance ermany5 which contains

ne3t to no ac@nowled'ement that any new climate of theoretical

s0eculation in the humanities e4en e3isted. #; >a3andall instead

loo@ed toward codified forms of @nowled'e5 all strictly

contem0oraneous with the ob2ects of his study5 in fields as far from

the 0ractice of scul0ture as the 'uild-lore of the eistersin'ers or the

chiromancy of the alchemist Paracelsus which has the salutary

effect of demonstratin' that inter0retati4e theories are 2ust tools5 the

so0histication of which does not de0end u0on their date or u0on the

0articular 4ocabulary in which they are e30ressed;. His a00roach

yielded a le4el of analysis a00lied to the inner wor@in's of form that

set a standard for all those who came after5 in any 0eriod or medium5

a standard all the more im0ressi4e because he was confrontin'

e3ce0tionally com0le3 ensembles of scul0ture5 0aintin'5 and

cabinetwor@ ty0ically 0roduced by a number of hands.

>a3andall becomes a 0art of this s0ecifically American story when he

be'an durin' the 1?G%s to combine his old 0osition at the 7arbur'

"nstitute in =ondon with teachin' alon'side Clar@ in C >er@eley6s

ascendant 'raduate 0ro'ram. As such5 his account of 0re-,eformation

0iety5 with its acute attention to doubt5 an3iety5 and tension between

the sinful a00etites e3cited by wealth and the concomitant ca0acity of

the new affluence to fund e3tra4a'ant e30ressions of faith5 brou'ht

u0-to-date cha0iro6s ori'inal insi'ht that the 'reatest reli'ious art

arises from 2ust such circumstances.

Attention to these stron' forces of renewal within the disci0line can

ser4e to dis


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other disci0lines5 obser4in' the wea@ness of 0ostwar art history5 ha4e

ste00ed in to 'i4e the field its new ener'y and 0lace at the broad

humanities table. Any 0al0able benefits ha4e lar'ely accrued to the

career 0rofiles of these outsiders5 not to 0ositi4e 'ains for art history

as a disci0line. Amon' historians5 lac@ of e30erience--0ositi4e or

ne'ati4e--with the 0rotocols of the connoisseur has made for flat and

unre4ealin' descri0tions of wor@s of art5 which too often amount to

the 4isual eulletin seen as the scholarly 2ournal of

record; re0resents a 4ariation on this a00roach5 e4en when these

com0onents are not e30licitly ac@nowled'ed. The e30ected le4el of

com0etence is far hi'her than was the norm a 'eneration a'o5 as is

0roducti4ity5 whether measured by indi4idual out0ut or by the

0ercenta'e of acti4ely 0ublishin' scholars within the o4erall

0o0ulation of the field. And an increasin'ly com0lete 0icture of art

0ractices across a wide 'eo'ra0hical and chronolo'ical territory is

conse


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ideolo'y-criti


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or im0ossibility of a history of art into a self-sufficient enter0rise5 one

easily le4era'ed into an aura of interdisci0linary 'lamour and a

com0arati4ely effortless 0roliferation of tal@s5 0a0ers5 and boo@s. To

this end5 it has been a con4enient conclusion drawn from 6theory6 to

say that any intelli'ible 0attern drawn out of historical data re0resents

an inherently s0urious metanarrati4e e4en thou'h the ori'inal

efficacy of the turn to theory had 0recisely been to identify analyable

structures in the historical record;. The com0onent of art history that

has re


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0eriod; matters less than his insistence on the co'niti4e 4alue of

aesthetic distinction5 which now runs a'ainst a 0re4ailin' tide in which

no s0ecial case can be made for one cate'ory of artifact a'ainst

another. !;

The


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1?&% forward.

The dri4e toward the modern5 then5 is in dan'er of shootin' 0ast the

0oint where it can find common 'round with the le'itimate

0reoccu0ations of art historians wor@in' in earlier 0eriods. As often as

not5 the media fa4ored by youn'er scholars--film5 4ideo5 re0roduced

te3ts and 0hoto'ra0hs5 assembla'e installations--are im0ermanent5

im0atient with the layered density of the uni


36/43


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and ma'ical thou'ht5 which lay beyond any merely boo@ish catalo'ue

of mytholo'ical stories and aesthetic canons. or him5 the fi'ure in

motion5 deri4ed from the direct e30erience of 0erformers in the 'uise

of ancient deities5 constituted the true sub2ect of ad4anced lorentine

mimesis in the 1EG%s and his ha4in' discerned li4in' 0arallels to this

history in the festi4als and artifacts of the Ho0i5 whom he sou'ht out

durin' an American so2ourn in 1G?&5 0ro4ides the stron'est early

e3am0le of the brid'e buildin' re


38/43

Center5 =os An'eles5 and 0rofessor of art history at the ni4ersity of

outhern California. His 0ublications include Painters and Public =ife

in 9i'hteenth Century Paris 1?G!;5 9mulation 1??!;5 The

"ntelli'ence of Art 1???;5 and most recently The ,ise of the i3ties:

American and 9uro0ean Art in the 9ra of Dissent #%%!;. He has

been a ellow of the American Academy since #%%1.

1 eor'e Bubler5 The ha0e of Time: ,emar@s on the History of

Thin's (ew Ha4en5 Conn.: $ale ni4ersity Press5 1?5 )?.

# "bid.5 1?-#%.

"bid.5 &.

E te4en Pin@er5 The >lan@ late: The odern Denial of Human

(ature (ew $or@: Vi@in' Pen'uin5 #%%#;5 E%!.

! A further wea@ness in this assertion lies in the fact that many

assiduous scholars on the =eft5 de4outly wishin' that Pin@er could be

correct5 ha4e s0ent at least a 'eneration attem0tin' to demonstrate

such conscious 0olitical leanin's in the 0ractice of e3em0lary modern

artists--and ha4e usually come u0 em0ty.

& 9rwin Panofs@y5 The History of Art5 in The Cultural i'ration: The

9uro0ean cholar in America5 ed. 7. ,. Crawford Philadel0hia:

ni4ersity of Pennsyl4ania Press5 1?!/ re0rint5 (ew $or@: Arno Press5

1?));5 G.

) Bubler5 The ha0e of Time5 )%.

G ee =eo teinber'5 The Philoso0hical >rothel5 0t. 15 Art (ews )1

!; e0tember 1?)#;: #%-#?/ "bid.5 0t. #5 Art (ews )1 &; +ctober


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1?)#;: G-E?.

? Charles ,ufus orey5 The Value of Art as an Academic ub2ect5

Parnassus 1 ; arch 1!5 1?#?;: ).

1% Panofs@y5 The History of Art5 G!-GG.

11 Charles ,ufus orey5 ediae4al Art and America5 Journal of the

7arbur' and Courtauld "nstitutes ) 1?EE;: &.

1# "bid.5 #.

1 ee Panofs@y5 The History of Art5 ?!.

1E "r4in' =a4in5 The Crisis of 6Art History56 in ie@e >al et al.5 Art

History and "ts Theories5 Art >ulletin )G 1; arch 1??&;: 1E.

1! Panofs@y5 The History of Art5 ?1.

1& orey5 ediae4al Art5 !.

1) "bid.

1G ried6s 0rinci0al wor@ in this 4ein has recently been collected in

ichael ried5 Art and +b2ecthood: 9ssays and ,e4iews Chica'o:

ni4ersity of Chica'o Press5 1??G;.

1? As Bubler obser4es The ha0e of Time5 &);5 The wor@ of many

artists often comes closer to 0hiloso0hical s0eculation than most

aesthetic writin's5 which retrace the same 'round o4er and o4er5

sometimes systematically and sometimes historically5 but rarely with

ori'inality.


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#% eyer cha0iro5 The (ature of Abstract Art5 ar3ist Luarterly 1

January-arch 1?);5 re0rinted in eyer cha0iro5 odern Art:

(ineteenth and Twentieth Centuries: elected Pa0ers (ew $or@:

eor'e >railler5 1?)G;5 1GG.

#1 "bid.5 1?#-1?.

## eyer cha0iro5 rom oarabic to ,omanesulletin #1 E; December 1??;: 1#-)E5 re0rinted in eyer

cha0iro5 ,omanes


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"nstitutes E -E; A0ril-June 1?E1;: 1&E-1?15 re0rinted in cha0iro5

odern Art5 E)-G&. These were =inda (ochlin5 "nno4ation and

Tradition in Courbet6s >urial at +rnans5 in arsyas tudies in the

History of Art5 su00l. #5 9ssays in Honor of 7alter riedlaender (ew

$or@: "nstitute of ine Arts5 (ew $or@ ni4ersity5 1?&E;5 11?-1#&5 and

=inda (ochlin5 usta4e Courbet6s eetin': A Portrait of the Artist as

a 7anderin' Jew5 Art >ulletin E? ; e0tember 1?&);: #%?-###.

Herbert6s research is re0resented in ,obert Herbert5 "m0ressionism:

Art5 =eisure5 and Parisian ociety (ew Ha4en5 Conn.: $ale ni4ersity

Press5 1?GG;/ see also Paul Hayes Tuc@er5 onet at Ar'enteuil (ew

Ha4en5 Conn.: $ale ni4ersity Press5 1?G#;.

#! ,oland >arthes5 FK Paris: 9ditions du euil5 1?)%;. The lesson of

>arthes6s 0ro2ect for established literary-critical assum0tions follows

Bubler6s formula5 written a decade before The ha0e of Time5 #G;5

for un0ac@in' the a00arently unified wor@ of art: ... the cross-section

of the instant ta@en across the full face of the moment in a 'i4en

0lace5 resembles a mosaic of 0ieces in different de4elo0mental states5

and of different a'es5 rather than a radial desi'n conferrin' its

meanin' on all the 0ieces.

#& The foundin' te3t was Phil Cohen5 ubcultural Conflict and

7or@in'-Class Community5 >irmin'ham ni4ersity Centre for

Contem0orary Cultural tudies5 7or@in' Pa0ers in Cultural tudies #5

0rin' 1?)#5 !-!15 re0rinted in Phil Cohen5 ,ethin@in' the $outh

Luestion: 9ducation5 =abour and Cultural tudies Durham5 (.C.:

Du@e ni4ersity Press5 1??G;.

#) ee as an e3am0le Annette ichelson5 ,obert orris: An

Aesthetics of Trans'ression5 in ,obert orris 7ashin'ton5 D.C.:


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E >a3andall5 The =imewood cul0tors5 1%.

! ee5 as a re0resentati4e e3am0le5 the comments of Beith o3ey5

oti4atin' History5 Art >ulletin )) ; e0tember 1??!;: ?#-E%15

re0rinted in Beith o3ey5 The Practice of Persuasion: Parado3 and

Power in Art History "thaca5 (.$.: Cornell ni4ersity Press5 #%%1;5 &!-

)?.

& ee Aby 7arbur'5 The ,enewal of Pa'an Antiritt

=os An'eles: etty ,esearch "nstitute5 1???;5 1&1-1&).

) " am 'rateful for the assistance of Alison =oc@e and Doris Chon in

the 0re0aration of this essay.

Crow - The Practice of Art History in America

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