The Art of Art History: A Professional Allegory

Art is a form of communication linking experience and expression in visual terms. What the artist says and the way it is said are one and the same thing. The art historian seeks not only to describe the form, meaning and development of material culture, but also to relate human artifacts to the thoughts, feelings and conditions that produce them. The author compares art history to the disciplines of art and science, offering five principles that define the discipline as a “natural science of the spirit.”