The Psychologizing of Modernity
Art, Architecture and History

An examination of the impact of psychology on twentieth-century aesthetics.

Mark Jarzombek (Author)

9780521147637, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 3 February 2011

340 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.5 kg

"well-informed, transdisciplinary, historical argument." Times Literary Supplement

In The Psychologizing of Modernity Mark Jarzombek examines the impact of psychology on twentieth-century aesthetics. Analysing the interface between psychology, art history and avant-gardist practices, he also reflects on the longevity of the myth of aesthetic individuality as it infiltrated not only avant-garde art, but also history writing. The principal focus of this study is pre-World War II Germany, where theories of empathy and Entartung emerged; and post-war America, where artists, critics and historians gradually shifted from their reliance on psychology to philosophy and theory. Included are discussions of writers such as Heinrich Wölfflin, Ludwig Volkmann, John Dewey, Vincent Scully and Richard Arnheim, among others. The Psychologizing of Modernity is a broad and erudite study of the evolution of modern aesthetic thinking in the fields of art and architectural history.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
A prolegomenon to critical historiography
Introduction: art psychology, the elusive discipline
1. The psychologizing of modernity: initial soundings
2. The body ethos
3. The vitalist ethos
4. The social ethos
5. The literary ethos
6. Theory activism
Conclusion: the disciplinary dialectics of art and architecture's intellectual history
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Theory of art [ABA]