As The Spirit Of The History Of Art History

This dissertation selects Max Dvorak, an art historian of Vienna School, as the topic of study, attempting to explore the originating process of Dvorak's methodological idea of the "Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte", and evaluate its application and significance in arthistory research. Geistesgeschichte, as the method of historical investigation, was introduced into arthistory field by Max Dvorak, who reinterpreted and readjusted the early Christian art and Mannerism, which had been thought as regressive artistic representation, under the principle of the Geistesgeschichte. enduing these important historical stages and phenomena with new meaning. The origination of Dvorak's idea had to do with the tradition of Vienna School and the transformation of Europe Fin-de-Siecle social condition. According to this recognition hereinbefore, this dissertation consists of two parts, the first is about the problem of background and concept of Dvorak's method; The second treats with the history of Vienna School, which is regarded as the direct sources of Dvorak's idea. This dissertation does not set the judgment of ideology as the destination; it's rather to inquire the origins and meanings of "Kunstgeschichte als Geistesgeschichte". Dvorak's methodology originated under the certain cultural tradition and historical background, in which there inevitably existed the historical limitation. But what important is that, the experience of Dvorak told us, to interpret the artistic phenomena, the representation of human spiritual civilization, from the viewpoint of spirit could supply multiple dimensions of understanding for our research.