This popular textbook serves as a lively and stimulating introduction to methodological debates in art history. Offering a lucid account of approaches from Hegel to postcolonialism and decolonialism, it provides a sense of art history's own history as a discipline, from its emergence in the late-eighteenth century to the present day.

By explaining the underlying philosophical and political assumptions behind each method and providing clear examples of how these are brought to bear on visual and historical analysis, the authors show that adherence to a certain method is, in effect, a commitment to a set of beliefs and values. The book makes a strong case for the vitality of the discipline and its methodological centrality to new fields such as visual culture. This second edition has been updated to cover the latest developments in gender studies, decolonialism and global art.

Preface to second edition
1 Introduction
2 A variety of interpretations: a preview
3 Hegel and the birth of art history
4 Connoisseurship
5 Formalism: Heinrich Wölfflin and Alois Riegl
6 Iconography-iconology: Erwin Panofsky
7 Marxism and the social history of art
8 Psychoanalysis
9 Gender
10 Semiotics
11 Postcolonial, decolonial, global
12 Conclusion
Index

Authors

Dorothy Price is Professor of History of Art at the University of Bristol
Michael Hatt is Professor of Art History at the University of Warwick
Charlotte Klonk is Professor of Art and New Media at Humboldt University of Berlin