A Study On Sedlmayr's Eistesgeschichte,or Theories Of Art History

Hans Sedlmayr(1896-1984)was a distinguished Austrian art historian.As the representative figure of the New Vienna School of Art History,he used to work with University of "Vienna,University of Munich and University of Salzburg as professor of art history.Directly inheriting the artistic ideas of such "founding fathers of art history" as Riegl and Wolfflin,Sedlmayr was a staunch formalist.He laid stress on the studies of the self-discipline of art,and his methodology is generally regarded as formal analyses,or formal studies.He enjoyed equal fame with Panofsky,as they both adored and worshiped Riegl as a mentor figure,and both of them were reputable for their outstanding talent and sensitivity to theories.However,Sedlmayr and Panofsky are popularly referred to as "the wicked twin brothers" because of their irrevocable involvement with the Nazi party.Between the second half of the 19th century and second half of the 20th century,the theorists of new Vienna School of Art History,with Riegl as its leading exponent,Heinrich Wolfflin and other scholars established Kunstwissenschaft,or science of art,the core theories and methodology of which are generally viewed as the "simple and parochial formalism".The inner studies of such a "formalism" has always been the key object of discussion in this area,and these studies have undergone popularity,neglect,and restoration of interest.During the last three years,the afore-said opinions have been refuted in the academic circles.For example,there appears the latest opinion that Kunstwissenschaft is not the simple and parochial formalism,for,from the date it was set up,it has used the methods as well as terms of humanities,social science and natural science as reference,and it has strived to create a conversational context for the trans-disciplinary interactivities.Furthermore,there are those who,trying to seek for breakthroughs from the exterior,endeavour to get to the bottom of the its theoretical sources,and its relationship with traditional humanities,natural science and newly sprung subjects,such as historiography,psychology,sociology,physiognomy,evolutionism,and comparative anatomy,and thus make an effort to vindicate the far-ranging cultural significance of the studies of the formalistic theories of Riegl,Wolfflin and Sedlmayr.Set in such academic backgrounds,this dissertation aims to focus on Sedlmayr,the representative scholar of the New Vienna School,as the object of study,laying emphasis on Sedlmayr's art theories,ideology,and eistesgeschichte,or theories of art history,surveying the backgrounds,causes,theories,and methodology of the establishment of Kunstwissenschaft for a link between the past and the future,and trying to provide the answer as a result of inner studies of the Vienna School to the above-mentioned question,namely,whether the system of formal analyses is "formalism" or not.With Sedlmayr as the object of a case study and with certain reference to Sedlmayr's predecessors such as Riegl and Wolfflin,this dissertation comes up with the ideas that the theorists of formal analyses,with Sedlmayr as the leading exponent,had broken through the binary opposition of traditional form and content,or that of the inner form and outer form,and,confronting the drastic cultural and intellectual revolutions brought about by the traditional philosophy,aesthetics and Darwinist evolutionism,they tried to establish a history of art and preserve its independence.Their fundamental purpose was to substitute the historiography of art with Kunstwissenschaft,as a result,their hidden academic stand was to substitute the formal theories with the visual theories(although these theories promoted the development of the visual cultures of the later generation,there did not exist an inexorable causal link between the two),to refer to the trans-disciplinary methodology but seek for the isolation of the newly-sprung subject from the traditional ones,and the basic feature of the establishment and development period of Kunstwissenschaft,in another word,science of art,was to cultivate this new subject with their own weapon,that is,the theories of Kunstwissenschaft.Kunstwissenschaft came as a result of the "intrusion" of art theories into art history.The theories of formal analyses maintain the unity of the object and subject,but lay stress on the independent nature of the"physical property" of the subject.They are principally based on the theories of phenomenology and traditional physiognomy,and between them and the traditional mimetic theories and the theories of semiology,which occurred as a new school of studies,there exists a basic distinction,which also serve to distinguish Sedlmayr's approaches from Panofsky,Gombrich and Shapiro's approaches to the problems left over by the "fathers of art history"such as Riegl and Wolfflin.In addition,this dissertation makes a point of setting Sedlmayr as an example to illustrate that the Vienna School of Art History and the Riegl-Wolfflin-Sedlmayr's system of formal analyses are inexorably rooted in history,and they were suspicious of modernity as the subject.The decent respect to the physical property shows influence of the long standing inheritance of the ancient academic tradition of Europe upon their views on art history.The issues under discussion hereinafter are:1)the mutual influence,contradiction and determination between "pure science" and "objective scholarship" and traditional humanities and natural science;2)the theories of formal analyses,phenomenology and the practice of traditional physiognomy as the visual theories,and the theoretical projection of these theories;3)the fusion of art history and art theories;4)the perspective of art and culture history under the influence of Husserl and Nietzsche.