Kunstwissenschaft and the “primitive”: excursions in the history of art history, 1879–1914

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, artifacts of material culture from non-European sites, newly excavated European material, and examples of applied arts accumulated in European collections, especially in Germany. The encounter with non-classical objects brought the “primitive” into focus in the recently institutionalized discipline of art history, which simultaneously drew into its orbit paradigms from ethnology and psychology. This dissertation examines the intersection of these developments: the growing importance of ethnology and “primitive” objects, the attempt to make German-speaking art history “scientific” and rigorous, and the focus on the psychology of art making and perception. It examines the dynamics of ensuing debates in the works of an interconnected group of art theorists and historians. ❧ During this period, the “primitive” was broadly conceived as encompassing traits and forms typical of “early” or primordial artistic production. Foremost among them was ornament, theorized as one of the earliest products of aesthetic activity. In these “earliest” and “simplest” works, the lawfulness of art and its later development seemed most vivid. It included objects and characteristics from a number of areas: prehistoric artifacts, aspects of the minor arts, so-called Northern ornament, and ornamented implements of contemporary “primitive” peoples. ❧ The “primitive” sharpened problems already important to art historians and to a field in the process of defining its boundaries and methods in conversation with adjacent disciplines. By the beginning of the period under consideration, the concept of Wissenschaft, or rigorous scholarship, had been transformed from an earlier nineteenth-century notion into one increasingly influenced by natural scientific methods, specialized research, and the demands of modernization. By the end of this period, there was a further shift as many art historians promoted a Kunstwissenschaft, or scientific study of art, in which empirical facts were deployed in the effort to discover systematic principles. ❧ Much research on “primitive” art and ornament was conducted by scholars on the margins of art history in dialogue with formally trained art historians. The former examined the “beginnings” of art and asserted “scientific” personae and techniques. They stressed the material and technical origins of “primitive” art and ornament, the importance of symbolic meanings, and mimetic techniques. Art historians also adopted aspects of such techniques and personae as they derived from “primitive” objects laws of art’s coming-into-being and inserted these into an uninterrupted history of its development. They stressed, however, the perceptual worlds of makers and beholders and attempted to endow the making and experience of art and ornament with psychological complexity by foregrounding artistic will. Some posited an empathetic relationship between the art historian and work of art. “Primitive” art functioned as a meeting point of methods and values and highlighted the interface between empirical study and attention to the mental lives of makers and viewers.

19世纪末至20世纪初，来自非欧洲遗址的物质文化遗存、新出土的欧洲实物资料，以及应用艺术范例在欧洲各收藏机构中不断累积，尤以德国为甚。非古典器物的出现让‘原始’成为新近制度化的艺术史（art history）学科的关注焦点，该学科同时吸纳了民族学（ethnology）与心理学（psychology）的范式纳入自身研究范畴。本论文聚焦上述发展脉络的交汇点：民族学与‘原始’器物的重要性与日俱增，德语区艺术史谋求‘科学化’与严谨性的尝试，以及对艺术创作与感知心理学的关注。论文还探讨了一个相互关联的艺术理论家和历史学家群体的著作中，后续相关论争的动态过程。
❧ 在此时期，‘原始’被宽泛地定义为涵盖‘早期’或原初艺术创作的典型特征与形式。其中最为核心的便是装饰纹样（ornament），其被理论化为审美活动最早的产物之一。在这些‘最早’且‘最简易’的作品中，艺术的法则性及其后续发展脉络展现得最为清晰。该范畴包含诸多领域的器物与特征：史前遗存、附属艺术的相关面向、所谓的北方装饰纹样，以及当代‘原始’族群的装饰器具。
❧ ‘原始’议题进一步凸显了艺术史学者与该领域此前已面临的诸多问题：彼时艺术史正与相邻学科对话，以界定自身边界与研究方法。在本研究涵盖的时期之初，Wissenschaft（严谨学术研究）的概念已从19世纪早期的内涵，演变为愈发受自然科学方法、专业化研究与现代化诉求影响的形态。至该时期末期，又出现了进一步的转向：诸多艺术史学者倡导Kunstwissenschaft（艺术科学研究，即系统化的艺术研究），主张借助经验事实探寻艺术发展的系统性原则。
❧ 诸多针对‘原始’艺术与装饰纹样的研究，由处于艺术史边缘地带的学者与受过正规训练的艺术史学者合作开展。前者聚焦艺术的‘起源’问题，标榜自身采用‘科学化’的研究视角与方法，强调‘原始’艺术与装饰纹样的物质与技术起源、象征意义的重要性，以及摹仿创作技法。艺术史学者也吸纳了此类研究视角与方法的部分内涵，从‘原始’器物中提炼出艺术诞生的法则，并将其纳入艺术发展的连贯历史脉络之中。不过，艺术史学者更注重创作者与观者的感知世界，通过凸显艺术创作的意志性，试图赋予艺术与装饰纹样的创作及体验以心理学层面的复杂性。部分学者还提出，艺术史学者与艺术作品之间应建立共情式的关联。‘原始’艺术成为研究方法与学术价值观的交汇点，凸显了经验研究与关注创作者及观者精神世界之间的衔接界面。