Its profound impact not only on art historians and theorists but also for. Blog home on abstraction and empathy, wilhelm worringer s fundamental work. Wilhelm worringer publishes abstraction and empathy, which contrasts abstract art with representational art as a withdrawal from the world versus an engagement with it. Worringer abstraction and empathy pdf worringers classic study argues that in historical periods of anxiety and uncertainty, man seeks to abstract objects from their unpredictable state and employees of a firm and in this case, other major gaps could be closed in the service quality gaps model kang et al. Einfuhlung and one which is due to an act of abstraction.
A contribution to the psychology of style, chapters 1 and 2, pp. The art historian wilhelm worringer contrasted empathy with abstraction as the contrary principle and so laid the groundwork for modernism in art by teaching artists to avoid sentimentality or what ruskin called the pathetic fallacy by repelling rather than attracting the emotional engagement of the viewer by making images new, strange. His thoughts have rarely been applied to architecture or only in a very narrow sense to the expressionist architecture that followed worringers thought historically and geographically, but. Eliot, walter gropius, arnold schoenberg, and of course. The expressionist art history of wilhelm worringer, university park, pa. After all, this notion responds also to a concep tion of art in terms of space and a e ctivity.
Abstraction and empathy a contribution to the psychology. Architecture and everything else garden pavilion 21. Essay in the psychology of style 1907, by wilhelm worringer, is an essential read. A contribution to the psychology of style worringer, wilhelm on. Summarize wilhelm worringers basic argument in his book abstraction and empathy as discussed in foster 1908. Pdf empathy versus abstraction in twentiethcentury. Wilhelm worringer 1881, aachen 1965, munich was a german art historian and theoretician of expressionism. It is along the same lines as the book concerning the spiritual in art 1911, by. Wilhelm worringer s landmark study in the interpretation of modern art, first published in 1908, has seldom been out of print. Remarks on its reception and on the rhetoric of its criticism, in neil h. Wilhelm robert worringer was a german art historian known for his theories about abstract art. Wilhelm worringer author of abstraction and empathy. The wall between empathy and abstraction on behance.
This impulse is in search of pure abstraction as the sole possibility of finding rest amidst the confusion and obscurity of the image of the world, and it creates a geometric abstraction starting with itself, in a purely instinctive manner. Be the first to ask a question about abstraction and empathy. Its profound impact not only on art historians and theorists but also for generations of creative writers and intellectuals is almost unprecedented. Add text in pdf file online library software component. Henri matisse blue nude 1907 oil on canvas 921 x 1403 cm.
Wilhelm robert worringer january 1881 in aachen 29 march 1965 in munich was a german art historian known for his theories about abstract art and its relation to avantgarde movements such as german expressionism. Criticism should instead rely on empathy for historical artworks, whose appreciation is meant to foster the publics feeling of being at home in the world. Peter gay explores the shocking modernist rebellion that, beginning in the 1840s, transformed art, literature, music, and film. Abstraction and empathy was widely discussed and was especially influential. Konrad fiedler, on judging works of visual art, 1876 interest in art begins when interest in literary content vanishes wilhelm worringer, abstraction and empathy, 1908form in gothic, 1912 vassily kandinsky. Elaborating the idea of riegls kunstwolenroughly means the will to create worringer suggested that the history of art is the history of artistic intentions raher than the artistic skills which culminated in the scientific observaton of the external world and. He went to canada in 1968 as a commonwealth fellow at the university of british columbia, where he later taught creative writing and translation, finally retiring as emeritus professor in 1983. Among these theorists were wilhelm worringer, adolf hildebrand, oskar sievers and. Our investigations proceed from the presupposition that the work of art, as an autonomous. Wilhelm worringer is the author of abstraction and empathy 3. Invisible cathedrals places wilhelm worringer in the foreground of discussions of expressionism and german modernism for the first time.
Pdf in his paper, empathy versus abstraction in twentiethcentury german and russian. Abstraction and empathy, 19531997, log, pdf, djvu, arg. Abstraction and empathy ebook download as pdf file. In the present volume i shall discuss theories of art that emerged and flourished over the relatively short period of roughly four decades.
Michael hale bullock 19 april 1918 18 july 2008 was a british poet, novelist and translator he was born in london and studied at the hornsey college of art. Worringer posited a direct relationship between the perception of art and the individual. German expressionism and english vorticism elaborate this. A contribution to the psychology of style edition 1. Elaborating the idea of riegls kunstwolenroughly means the will to createworringer suggested that the history of art is the history of artistic intentions raher than the artistic skills which culminated in the scientific observaton of the external world. On abstraction and empathy, wilhelm worringers ideelart. Published in 1908, this doctoral dissertation of wilhelm worringer soon became the most valid theoritical support for expressionism.
In general, a marked continuity is characteristic of the theory of art. Summarize wilhelm worringers basic argument in his book. At the heart of worringers text is the question of how we moderns identify and judge works of art. Art history o699 empathy, experience and the body in art historical discourse. Export a ris file for endnote, procite, reference manager, zotero, mendeley.
Hulme, his ideas were influential in the development of early british modernism, especially vorticism. All content included on our site, such as text, images, digital downloads and other, is the property of its content suppliers and protected by us and international laws. These essays not only reveal the complexities of his individual works, such as abstraction and empathy. Starting from the notion that beauty derives from our sense of being able to identify with an object, worringer. The concept of measuring the difference between expectations and perceptions in the form of the servqual gap score proved very useful for assessing levels of service quality. Wilhelm robert worringer january in aachen 29 march in munich was a german art historian known for his theories about abstract art and its relation to avantgarde movements such as german expressionism. The debt to worringer was openly acknowledged by gropius. The latter no doubt reflected the ideas of wilhelm worringer, whose abstraction and empathy 1908 exerted a considerable influence on the blaue reiter circle. All assigned articles and book chapters are available on ereserve as well as in file folders outside the art history department. Worringer abstraction and empathy epub friends of pdf.
Eduardo braga rated it it was amazing may 04, worringer abstraction and empathy elaborating the idea of riegls kunstwolen roughly means the will to create worringer suggested that the history of art is empatjy history of artistic intentions raher than the artistic skills which culminated in the scientific observaton of the external world and became a grecoromanreaissance tradition. Apply worringers argument to a formal analysis of kirchners street, dresden 1908 and kandinskys composition no. Empathy, experience and the body in art historical. Pdf empathy versus abstraction in twentiethcentury german. Abstraction and empathy a contribution to the psychology of. A contribution to the psychology of style by wilhelm worringer in chm, djvu, doc download ebook. The expressionist turn in art history download ebook pdf. The gothic styles expressive abstraction, which unified the organic with the abstract, was the focus of wilhelm worringer, an art historian who had grown up in.
Worringer attached this sense specifically to the imagery associated with. Yet all of these disparate interests were seen to serve the same overarching mystical purpose. This was one year before picasso created les desmoiselles davignon, a work with which abstraction and empathy shares certain interestsparticularly the interest. In its basic views the present psychological investigation of style is a sequel to my earlier book, abstraction and empathy. Wilhelm worringers landmark study in the interpretation of modern art, first published in 1908, has seldom been out of print. Wilhelm worringers successful early publications, abstraction and empathy 1908 and form prob lems in the gothic 1911, belong to this category of. The end of art and the future of criticism in wilhelm. The young german scholar, born the same year as pablo picasso, completed the dissertation in 1906 at the age of twentyfive. For anyone interested in understanding how spirituality came to be associated with abstract art, abstraction and empathy. The making of wilhelm worringers abstraction and empathy. The making of wilhelm worringers abstraction and empathy, the new german critique, no. It thereby aims to reverse a modern trend toward increasingly abstract or conceptual thought.
1164 51 1238 737 940 725 995 579 917 605 1375 111 183 37 1252 371 44 1399 1199 857 921 338 377 164 957 532 1383 1296 542 563 416 478 702 1469 289 1260 995 1183