The Expressionist Turn in Art History
A Critical Anthology
Studies in Art Historiography Series

During the period in which Expressionist artists were active in central Europe, art historians were producing texts which also began to be characterized evocatively as ?expressionist?, yet the notion of an expressionist art history has yet to be fully explored in historiographic studies of the discipline. This anthology offers a cross-section of noteworthy art history texts that have been described as expressionist, along with critical commentaries by an international group of scholars. Written between 1912 and 1933, the primary sources have been selected from the published scholarship of both recognized and less-familiar figures in the field's Germanic tradition: Wilhelm Worringer, Fritz Burger, Ernst Heidrich, Max Dvo?ák, Heinrich Wölfflin, and Carl Einstein. Translated here for the first time, these examples of an expressionist turn in art history, along with their secondary analyses and the book's introduction, offer a productive lens through which to re-examine the practice and theory of art history in the early twentieth century.

Contents: Introduction, Kimberly A. Smith. Part I Wilhelm Worringer: Illustration and advertising: Wilhelm Worringer’s Die altdeutsche Buchillustration, Kathleen Chapman; Introduction to Old German Book Illustration (1912), Wilhelm Worringer. Part II Fritz Burger: Expressionism and empathy: Fritz Burger’s theory of art, Elena Filippi; From Cézanne and Hodler: Introduction to the Problems of Contemporary Painting (1913), Fritz Burger. Part III Ernst Heidrich: Ernst Heidrich as an ’expressionist’ art historian? A look at Vlaemische Malerei and other volumes written for the Jena arts publisher Eugen Diederichs, Eveliina Juntunen; From Flemish Painting (1913), Ernst Heidrich. Part IV Max Dvo?ák: Inventing ’mannerist expressionism’: Max Dvo?ák and the history of art as history of the spirit, Hans Aurenhammer; ’Tintoretto’ (1920), Max Dvo?ák; Foreword to Oskar Kokoschka: Variations on a Theme (1921), Max Dvo?ák. Part V Heinrich Wölfflin: Heinrich Wölfflin and the German sense of form, Michela Passini and Francesco Peri; Italy and the German sense of form (1921-22), Heinrich Wölfflin; Principles of Art History: a revision (1933), Heinrich Wölfflin. Part VI Carl Einstein: Carl Einstein and Expressionism: the case of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Charles W. Haxthausen; Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, from Art of the Twentieth Century (1926), Carl Einstein; Wassily Kandinsky (1926), Carl Einstein; George Grosz (1926), Carl Einstein. Bibliography; Index.

Kimberly A. Smith is Professor of Art History at Southwestern University, where she teaches the history of modern art.