Reading Snippet - Art History - a Very Short Introduction (2)

The historiography of history of art

This book has expended page after page not just on the different schools of thoughts in history of art, but also how museums' settings and positioning contributed towards the expression of history of art.

A museum typically organises exhibits by period or style, which helps to reinforce the orthodox model of history of art - the demarcation from period to period, and the boundaries between styles. However, increasingly museums are arranging exhibitions around specific themes, to help with exploring certain topics in depth, e.g. the role of women in art (patrons, subject, nudity, feminism etc). In some cases, by having carefully set exhibitions, new art periods may emerge - an example is at the turn of the 20th century when a number of different art styles were exhibited under the theme of 'post-impressionism' and they all became known by that umbrella term, despite having vastly varying methodologies and philosophies.

Furthermore, museums help to update the orthodox model through its curation. When major museums purchase new artworks, it sends a signal on what new styles may be viewed as classics and become part of their collections. In this way, a very public adjustment is made to the model - such adjustments can be in terms of new styles, new artists, new themes, or even new ways of appreciating and thinking about art that bring certain artworks into prominence.

A very ancient school of thoughts in art history is to seek rational thinking and wisdom through artwork, meaning that work that displays intelligence through its topic and skills are superior. This subsumes artistry below thinking, and 'beautiful' artwork per se would not be appreciated as much as a 'thoughtful' artwork. However, towards modernity, two opposite schools of thoughts challenges this view. The first is Kant's view that art itself merits its own set of theories and methods of appreciation, without any need for thoughts and rationality to be expressed. This places emphasis on studying what makes an artwork 'beautiful', putting artistry on par with intelligence. Another school of thought is the Hegel school of Zeitgeist, which emphasises the artwork as a manifest of the age's spirit, as such the works should be studied to understand the spirit and the cultures and society associated with that spirit. A typical example is the Marxist argument of different social classes preferring differing art styles and themes depicted by the artworks.

These opposing schools are not static but have evolved with time to create new generations of critical theories, such as incorporating Freudian views on psychoanalysis. This allows artwork to be analysed in association with its author, understanding the artists' subconscious motivations and mentality through the works' subtle symbols. Another advance is that an artwork could be classified into 'inside' and 'outside' elements such as the frame, artist's fame and its price, but the 'outside' elements would come back to affect how its 'inside' is evaluated.

There are many ways through which history of art could be presented, expressed and displayed. However, it is important to bear in mind that 'history' as a subject has two sides - the historical events that have taken place, and how we as the present-day people look at what has happened in the past. This is why different schools of thought emerge, to respond to the present age's needs, anxieties and curiosities; this is why the museums have changed their display method from time or style based to theme based, as some themes such as feminism needs to be explored given today's political atmosphere; this is why new periods, styles and artwork preferences emerge, as they enable the narration of history of art to be smoother in the eyes of the modern patrons or that gaps could be filled.

History is therefore a living subject - not just that forgotten events are re-discovered and new events emerge, but how the events should be studied and aligned also shift as the world moves forward. History, in other words, change with the current world.