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Heinrich Wölfflin (; 21 June 1864 – 19 July 1945) was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles ("
painterly Painterliness is a concept based on ''german: malerisch'' ('painterly'), a word popularized by Swiss art historian Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) to help focus, enrich and standardize the terms being used by art historians of his time to cha ...
" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of
formal analysis In art history, formalism is the study of art by analyzing and comparing form and style. Its discussion also includes the way objects are made and their purely visual or material aspects. In painting, formalism emphasizes compositional elements ...
in art history in the early 20th century. He taught at Basel, Berlin and Munich in the generation that raised German art history to pre-eminence. His three great books, still consulted, are ''Renaissance und Barock'' (1888), ''Die Klassische Kunst'' (1898, "Classic Art"), and ''Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe'' (1915, "Principles of Art History"). Wölfflin taught at
Berlin University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
, from 1901 to 1912;
Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
, from 1912 to 1924; and Zurich University, from 1924 until his retirement.


Origins and career

Wölfflin was born in Winterthur, Switzerland, and is buried in Basel. His father,
Eduard Wölfflin Eduard Wölfflin (1 January 1831, Basel – 8 November 1908, Basel) was a Swiss classical philologist. He was the father of art historian Heinrich Wölfflin. Career From 1848 to 1854, he studied at the Universities of Basel and Göttingen ...
, was a professor of classical philology who taught at
Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
and helped found and organize the ''
Thesaurus Linguae Latinae The ''Thesaurus Linguae Latinae'' (abbreviated as ''ThLL'' or ''TLL'') is a monumental dictionary of Latin founded on historical principles. It encompasses the Latin language from the time of its origin to the time of Isidore of Seville (died ...
''. Wölfflin studied art history and history with
Jakob Burckhardt Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (25 May 1818 – 8 August 1897) was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. He is known as one of the major progenitors of cultural history. Sigfri ...
at the
University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...
, philosophy with Wilhelm Dilthey at
Berlin University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...
, and art history and philosophy at Munich University where his father had taught. He received his degree from Munich University in 1886 in philosophy, although he was already on a course to study the newly minted discipline of art history. Wölfflin's principal philosophy mentor at the
University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's List of universities in Germany, sixth-oldest u ...
, where Wölfflin got his doctoral degree, was the renowned professor of archaeology
Heinrich Brunn Heinrich Brunn, since 1882 Ritter von Brunn (23 January 1822, Wörlitz – 23 July 1894, Josephstal near Schliersee, Upper Bavaria) was a German archaeologist. He was known for taking a scientific approach in his investigations of classical Gree ...
. Greatly influenced by his mentors, particularly neo-Kantian Johannes Volkelt (''Der Symbolbegriff'') and Heinrich Brunn, his dissertation, ''Prolegomena zu einer Psychologie der Architektur'' (1886), already showed the approach that he was later to develop and perfect: an analysis of form based on a psychological interpretation of the creative process. It is considered now to be one of the founding texts of the emerging discipline of art history, although it was barely noted when it was published. After graduating in 1886, Wölfflin published the result of a years' travel and study in Italy, as his ''Renaissance und Barock'' (1888), already showed the approach that he was later to develop and perfect, he pursued his method in books on the Renaissance and Baroque periods. For Wölfflin, the 16th-century art now described as "
Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...
" was part of the Baroque aesthetic, one that Burckhardt before him as well as most French and English-speaking scholars for a generation after him dismissed as degenerate. On the death of Jacob Burckhardt in 1897 Wöllflin succeeded him in the Art History Chair at Basel. He is credited with having introduced the teaching method of using twin parallel projectors in the delivery of art history lectures, so that images could be compared when magic lanterns became less dangerous. Sir
Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Kin ...
recalled being inspired by him, as well as
Erwin Panofsky Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 in Hannover – March 14, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey) was a German-Jewish art historian, whose academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work represents a hig ...
. Notable students of Wölfflin include
Klara Steinweg Klara Steinweg (1903–1972) was a German art historian, specializing in the Italian Renaissance. She was a collaborator with Richard Offner on the ''Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting'', from 1930 to 1965. Biography Klar ...
.


''Principles of Art History''

In ''Principles of Art History'', Wölfflin formulated five pairs of opposed or contrary precepts in the form and style of art of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries which demonstrated a shift in the nature of artistic vision between the two periods. These were: # From linear (draughtsmanship, plastic, relating to contour in projected ideation of objects) to painterly (''malerisch'': tactile, observing patches or systems of relative light and of non-local colour within shade, making shadow and light integral, and allowing them to replace or supersede the dominance of contours as fixed boundaries.) # From plane to recession: (from the 'Will to the plane', which orders the picture in strata parallel to the picture plane, to planes made inapparent by emphasising the forward and backward relations and engaging the spectator in recessions.) # From closed (tectonic) form to open (a-tectonic) form (The closed or tectonic form is the composition which is a self-contained entity which everywhere points back to itself, the typical form of ceremonial style as the revelation of law, generally within predominantly vertical and horizontal oppositions; the open or atectonic form compresses energies and angles or lines of motion which everywhere reach out beyond the composition, and override the horizontal and vertical structure, though naturally bound together by hidden rules which allow the composition to be self-contained.) # From multiplicity to unity: ('Classic art achieves its unity by making the parts independent as free members, and the baroque abolishes the uniform independence of the parts in favour of a more unified total motive. In the former case, co-ordination of the accents; in the latter, subordination.' The multiple details of the former are each uniquely contemplated: the multiplicity of the latter serves to diminish the dominance of line, and to enhance the unification of the multifarious whole.) # From absolute clarity to relative clarity of the subject: (i.e. from exhaustive revelation of the form of the subject, to a pictorial representation which deliberately evades objective clearness in order to deliver a perfect rendering of information or pictorial appearance obtained by other painterly means. Wölfflin was following in the footsteps of
Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...
, among others, in devising a method for distinguishing the development in style over time. He applied this method to Trecento, Quattrocento and Cinquecento art in ''Classic Art'' (1899), then developed it further in ''The Principles of Art History'' (1915). Wolfflin's ''Principles of Art History'' has recently become more influential among art historians and philosophers of art.
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism ''The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the study of aesthetics and art criticism. It was published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Society for Aesthetics American Soci ...
, published a special issue commemorating the 100th anniversary of the publication of the ''Principles'' in 2015, edited by
Bence Nanay Bence Nanay is Professor of Philosophy and BOF Research Professor at the University of Antwerp and has worked as a film critic. He is co-director of the Centre for Philosophical Psychology at the University of Antwerp and Senior Research Associate a ...
.


References


Sources

*Joan Goldhammer Hart, Heinrich Wölfflin: An Intellectual Biography, Dissertation, UC Berkeley, 1981, available through University Microfilms. *Joan G. Hart, "Reinterpreting Wölfflin: Neo-Kantianism and Hermeneutics, in ''Art Journal, winter 1982, Vol. 42, no. 4, pp. 292–300. *Joan Hart, Relire Wölfflin, Louvre Museum Cycle de conferences, 1993, Ecole nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts publication, 1995. *Joan Hart, "Some Reflections on Wölfflin and the Vienna School," in Wien und die Entwicklung der Kunsthistorischen Methode, XXV International Kongress fur Kunstgeschichte Wien, 1983, Hermann Bohlaus, 1984. *Joan Hart, Heinrich Wölfflin, Encyclopedia of Aesthetics, Oxford Univ. Press, Vol. 4, 1998. *Joan Hart, "Heuristic Constructs and Ideal Types: The Wölfflin/Weber Connection," in ''German Art History and Scientific Thought: Beyond Formalism'' (ed.s Mitchell B. Frank and Daniel Adler), Surrey,UK: Ashgate, 2012, pp. 57–72. *M. Lurz. ''Heinrich Wöllflin: Biographie einer Kunsttheorie'' (Worms am Rhein 1981) *H. Wölfflin. ''Principles of Art History. The Problem of the Development of Style in Later Art'', Translated from 7th German Edition (1929) into English by M D Hottinger (Dover Publications, New York 1932 and reprints). *H. Wöllflin. ''Classic Art. An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance''. Translated from the 8th German Edition (Benno Schwabe & Co, Basle 1948) by Peter and Linda Murray (Phaidon Press, London 1952, 2nd Edn 1953). *H. Wölfflin. ''Die Kunst Albrecht Dürers'' (The Art of Albrecht Dürer), (F Bruckmann, Munich 1905, 2d Edn 1908). *H. Wölfflin. ''Die Bamburger Apokalypse: Eine Reichenauer Bilderhandschrift vom Jahre 1000'' (The Bamburg Apocalypse: A Reichenau illuminated manuscript from the year 1000), (Kurt Wolff, Munich 1921). *H. Wölfflin. ''Italien und das deutsche Formgefühl'' (Italy and the German sense of Form), (1931). *H. Wölfflin. ''Gedenken zur Kunstgeschichte'' (Thoughts on Art History), (1941). *H. Wöllflin. ''
Kleine Schriften ' is a German phrase ("short writings" or "minor works"; la, Opuscula) often used as a title for a collection of articles and essays written by a single scholar over the course of a career. "Collected Papers" is an English equivalent. These short ...
'' (Shorter Writings), (1946).


External links

* * Rykov, A.br>“Formalism, Avant-garde, Classics. Heinrich Woelfflin as an Art Theorist” in Proceedings of the History Department of Saint-Petersburg University. Vol. 22. 2015. pp. 155–160. (in Russian)
*Public domain works; full text online: **
Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe
' **
Die Kunst Albrecht Dürers
' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfflin, Heinrich 1864 births 1945 deaths Swiss art critics Swiss art historians Swiss architectural historians Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)