Journal of Art Historiography (Dec 2011)
‘On Some of the Psychological Conditions of Naturalistic Art’ originally published as ‘Ueber einige psychologische Voraussetzungen der naturalistischen Kunst’, Beilage der Allgemeinen Zeitung, Jahrgang 1905, Nummer 160, München Freitag 14. Juli, 89-93, Nummer 161, Samstag 15. Juli, 98-101. Translated with an introduction by Karl Johns
Abstract
As a specialist in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy during the early twentieth century in Vienna, Heinrich Gomperz wrote and presumably also lectured in a characteristically clear style about elusive questions involving emotions and psychology. This essay about naturalism in art covers subjects projected for the third part of his monumental Weltanschuungslehre, which was ultimately never published. His model of the slow emergence of artistic naturalism involves the playful impulse of free imagination, the role of de-mystification or the ‘loss of an aura’ in the developing rationalization of artistic illusion and the relative place of similarity and truth in art.
