‘A realist theory of art history’. Review of: Ian Verstegen, A Realist Theory of Art History (Ontological Explorations), London and New York: Routledge 2013

Abstract

Until recently, art history has been dominated by anti-realist and social-constructivist ideologies—arguably, in a more radical form than this has been the case in other fields of the humanities. Ian Verstegen’s book A Realist theory of Art History is an attempt to analyse and examine realist alternatives to social constructivism in art history, starting from the position of critical realism. The particular value of the book is that it presents a series the theoretical problems pertaining to the relationship of art-historical reality to social institutions and it opens a debate about ontological problems that has been suppressed during the social-constructivist era.

Keywords

• realism
• anti-realism
• social and cultural constructivism
• ontology
• critical realism