Global Culture After Gombrich

The underexplored significance of Austrian art historian Ernst Gombrich.

Ernst Gombrich can be considered one of the most influential art historians of the twentieth century. Until now, however, the global impact of his work has been underappreciated. Global Culture after Gombrich presents essays on the scholar and his body of work by historians of art and culture—themselves students of Gombrich or associated with his scholarly home, the Warburg Institute—from Asia, North America, and Europe. Contributors include Carlo Ginzburg, Peter Burke, John Onians, Nicolas Penny, Cao Yiqiang, and more.

Subjects range from picture-making’s place in human evolution to the visual marginalia of the Renaissance and from nineteenth-century modernism to the implications of the latest neuroscience for cultural history. Ranging from theoretical broadsides to intricate reflections, other chapters explore fundamental issues like the notion of connoisseurship, the fate of the idea of culture, and the cultural specificity of modernism.

In showing how Gombrich initiated inquiries that have spread in numerous global directions, this book makes a vital contribution to contemporary debates around the languages of art history and showcases the range of approaches and methods by which art history is—and has yet to be—written.
 

Cao Yiqiang is professor of art history and founding director of the School of Arts and Humanities at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou.

John Onians is professor emeritus of world art at the University of East Anglia, UK. He is founding editor of the journal Art History.

Nicolas Penny is an art historian and former director of the National Gallery in London.

Matthew MacKisack is an art historian and writer and recently a research fellow at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou.