‘Art historians and their textual behaviour’. Review of: Sam Rose: Interpreting Art, London: UCL Press, 2022

Abstract

Sam Rose’s book analyses techniques that art historians and art critics use when they write about artworks. These techniques concentrate on five ‘features’ of art-theoretical analysis: authors, contexts, reception, complexity and depth. The analysis that Rose presents is based on an exceptionally extensive survey of art historical literature. At the same time, the book leaves it unclear whether these ‘features’ serve the purpose of acquiring and conveying knowledge about artworks or should we assume that they are merely constitutive of art-historical writing without contributing to art historical knowledge or its transmission.

Keywords

• sam rose
• art history writing
• artists as authors
• contexts of artworks
• reception of artworks
• complexity in art history writing
• depth in art history writing