‘Painting Art History’. Review of: Léa Kuhn, Gemalte Kunstgeschichte. Bildgenealogien in der Malerei um 1800, Paderborn: Fink 2020

Abstract

In her new book “Gemalte Kunstgeschichte” [Painted Art History] Léa Kuhn argues that the late 18th-century saw not only the rise of modern art historiography as a scholarly discipline, but that artists increasingly painted pictures that reflected on their own historicity. Kuhn develops her argument through close-readings of three self-portraits by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, William Dunlap, Marie-Gabrielle Capet. This review discusses her approach and its the insights it offers for the study of art historiography.

Keywords

• self portraiture
• self-reflexivity
• genealogy
• johann heinrich wilhelm tischbein
• william dunlap
• marie-gabrielle capet