Research On Gombrich's Methods Of Studying Art History

Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich was one of the most influential art historians of the 20th century, known as a scholar like Socrates, as a pioneer of the application of the psychology of perception to the study of art, and as a popularizer of art to the most ordinary readers. He, with a powerful mind and immense knowledge, made his research cover almost all the spheres of the modern art history.The introduction part is mainly about the present state of the research on Gombrich's art history theories domestic and abroad. The researchers in China have introduced us some of his works and theories and the application of them in the field of optical perception art. They actively communicated and spoke highly of his essential thoughts, and questioned his identity as an art historian as well, but with praise as the basic tone. The researchers abroad affirmed his important academic influences on one hand, but on the other hand, exposed and criticized the limitations of some views revealed in his works. Then the questions this paper intends to explore, based on the research done already, come out as what significance is it to the art history research, art education and practice in China to study Gombrich's theories, and whether study methods eventually serve art history research.The second part focuses on the forming process of Gombrich's academic career, from which we can learn about his academic experiences, the factors effective on the form of his study methods, how innovative and how successive these theories are, and how important they are to the production of his great works.The body part of this paper is enclosed in the parts from number three to five. With an exemplification of Gombrich's four works, this part discusses his study methods and theoretical systems from sociological, psychological and iconological perspectives. His informative, symbolic and philosophical methods are also discussed here with an extra help of his some other works. His theories such as "schema—correction", "projection", "situational logic" and "beholder's share" are of innovative and scientific significance in explaining the coming into being of art history and the rational interpretation of iconological meaning. Gombrich's another great contribution is his flexible combination of all these methods in explaining whatever happened in art history.The sixth part mainly discusses the communication value and reference significance of Gombrich's methods of studying art history. First of all, Gombrich played a prominent part in the developing process of western concepts of art history as he innovatively inherited and changed the thoughts of the former theorists, and was named the most outstanding art historian in the 20th century for the wisdom shown in his works. Besides, his study methods embody the quality of utmost science and rigor. His works are models of good art-historical writing, and reflect his humanism and his deep and abiding concern with the standards and values of cultural heritage. All these expose a certain value of guidance and reference in our art education and teaching spirit formation.The last part concludes the innovation points and the research achievements of this paper. The innovation points are that the paper conducts both longitudinal and cross-sectional study on how Gombrich's methods were formed and specifically applied, presents how his theories were developed and interacted, analyzes their priorities and limits, and accounts for the communication value of the methods in their help to enrich our own art history education and study. His art history study breaks the boundaries between different disciplines, which intrigues the blossom of new western art history. However, owing to the limits of available visible materials, he failed to mention much about none-western art history, and was criticized for his repulsion for modern and post-modern art. Here Gombrich's philosophical method needs to be studied more deeply.