Writing the History of Art: Methodology and Research in the Last Decades

Abstract

At the beginning of the new century the issue of art history and the methods to be used for research reopens many questions and determines the need for a critical review of historiography of the 20^th century. Numerous initiatives demonstrate this need that many art historians in both Italian and international universities have felt in recent years. Art history departments, in their different denominations in Europe and other countries around the world, are concentrated on research and initiatives on the state of art history, on how to revise and question the strategies of its construction, and on the identification of documents and archival material considered its «sources». These problems involve work groups and differently oriented researches within which, however, it is possible to identify similar premises. On the one hand they address the issue on a theoretical and methodological level and on the other, focus on case studies regarding particular historical and philological aspects in order to put new hypotheses of study and research into practice. The essay focuses on these issues and looks at some of the basic segments in the most recent bibliography.