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KUNSTWISSENSCHAFT AND THE “PRIMITIVE”:
EXCURSIONS IN THE HISTORY OF ART HISTORY, 1879–1914
by
Priyanka Basu
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(ART HISTORY)
December 2011
Copyright 2011 Priyanka Basu
Object Description
| Title | Kunstwissenschaft and the “primitive”: excursions in the history of art history, 1879–1914 |
| Author | Basu, Priyanka |
| Author email | priyankb@usc.edu;pbasu1@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Art History |
| School | College of Letters, Arts And Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-08-30 |
| Date submitted | 2011-11-25 |
| Date approved | 2011-11-28 |
| Restricted until | 2011-11-28 |
| Date published | 2011-11-28 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Lang, Karen A. |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Luke, Megan Lerner, Paul F. |
| Abstract | During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, artifacts of material culture from non-European sites, newly excavated European material, and examples of applied arts accumulated in European collections, especially in Germany. The encounter with non-classical objects brought the “primitive” into focus in the recently institutionalized discipline of art history, which simultaneously drew into its orbit paradigms from ethnology and psychology. This dissertation examines the intersection of these developments: the growing importance of ethnology and “primitive” objects, the attempt to make German-speaking art history “scientific” and rigorous, and the focus on the psychology of art making and perception. It examines the dynamics of ensuing debates in the works of an interconnected group of art theorists and historians. ❧ During this period, the “primitive” was broadly conceived as encompassing traits and forms typical of “early” or primordial artistic production. Foremost among them was ornament, theorized as one of the earliest products of aesthetic activity. In these “earliest” and “simplest” works, the lawfulness of art and its later development seemed most vivid. It included objects and characteristics from a number of areas: prehistoric artifacts, aspects of the minor arts, so-called Northern ornament, and ornamented implements of contemporary “primitive” peoples. ❧ The “primitive” sharpened problems already important to art historians and to a field in the process of defining its boundaries and methods in conversation with adjacent disciplines. By the beginning of the period under consideration, the concept of Wissenschaft, or rigorous scholarship, had been transformed from an earlier nineteenth-century notion into one increasingly influenced by natural scientific methods, specialized research, and the demands of modernization. By the end of this period, there was a further shift as many art historians promoted a Kunstwissenschaft, or scientific study of art, in which empirical facts were deployed in the effort to discover systematic principles. ❧ Much research on “primitive” art and ornament was conducted by scholars on the margins of art history in dialogue with formally trained art historians. The former examined the “beginnings” of art and asserted “scientific” personae and techniques. They stressed the material and technical origins of “primitive” art and ornament, the importance of symbolic meanings, and mimetic techniques. Art historians also adopted aspects of such techniques and personae as they derived from “primitive” objects laws of art’s coming-into-being and inserted these into an uninterrupted history of its development. They stressed, however, the perceptual worlds of makers and beholders and attempted to endow the making and experience of art and ornament with psychological complexity by foregrounding artistic will. Some posited an empathetic relationship between the art historian and work of art. “Primitive” art functioned as a meeting point of methods and values and highlighted the interface between empirical study and attention to the mental lives of makers and viewers. |
| Keyword | primitive; ornament; history of art history in Germany; August Schmarsow; psychological aesthetics; "beginnings" of art |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Rights | Basu, Priyanka |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume71/etd-BasuPriyan-437.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | KUNSTWISSENSCHAFT AND THE “PRIMITIVE”: EXCURSIONS IN THE HISTORY OF ART HISTORY, 1879–1914 by Priyanka Basu A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (ART HISTORY) December 2011 Copyright 2011 Priyanka Basu |
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