Time's Visible Surface: Alois Riegl and the Discourse on History and Temporality in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna

311 Pages·2006·1.174 MB·English

by  Michael Gubser

Time’s Visible Surface
Ribes nigrum,common black currant. Raceme enlarged 4.5x.
From Art Forms in the Plant World,Karl Blossfeldt (Dover Publications, 1985)
Time’s
Visible Surface
Alois Riegl and the Discourse
on History and Temporality
in Fin-de-Siècle Vienna
MICHAEL GUBSER
Wayne State University Press
Detroit
K
K R I T I K
German Literary Theory and Cultural Studies
Liliane Weissberg, Editor
A complete listing of the books in this series
can be found online at http://wsupress.wayne.edu
© 2006 byWayne State UniversityPress,
Detroit, Michigan 48201. All rights are reserved.
No partof this bookmaybe reproduced withoutformal permission.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
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Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gubser, Mike.
Time’s visible surface : Alois Riegl and the discourse on historyand temporalityin
fin-de-siecle Vienna/ Michael Gubser.
p. cm. — (Kritik: German literarytheoryand cultural studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8143-3208-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Riegl, Alois, 1858–1905—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Art—Historiography.
3. Artand history. 4. Space and time in art. 5. Aesthetics, Austrian—19th century.
I. Title: Alois Riegl and the discourse on historyand temporalityin fin-de-siecle
Vienna. II. Title. III. Kritik(Detroit, Mich.)
N7483.R54G83 2006
707’.2’2—dc22
2005017433
∞The paperused in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard forInformation Sciences—Permanence of Paper
forPrinted LibraryMaterials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
eISBN 978-0-8143-3746-2
Dedicated to my mother,
father, and sister
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction:
Alois Riegl and Fin-de-Siècle Vienna 1
1.
History, Temporality, and the Calendar 25
PART 1.
Wellenberg und Wellenthal: History and Time
in Fin-de-Siècle Austrian Thought 51
2.
Franz Brentano and the In-existence of Time 61
3.
Theodor von Sickel and the Institute
for Austrian Historical Research 77
4.
Max Büdinger’s Universal History 89
5.
Robert Zimmermann’s Philosophical Aesthetics 97
vii
CONTENTS
6.
Moritz Thausing and the Science of Art History 105
7.
Franz Wickhoff, Alois Riegl,
and the Structure of Art History 115
PART 2.
Temporality and History in Riegl’s Work 133
8.
History and the Perception of Monuments 141
9.
Temporality in Visible Form 151
10.
Seeing Time in The Group Portraiture of Holland 165
11.
The Anthropological Autonomy of Art 179
12.
Rhythm and Temporality in Problems of Style
and Late Roman Art Industry 187
Conclusion 201
Notes 219 Bibliography 275 Index 295
viii
Acknowledgments
While writing this book,I have incurred debts of gratitude to many
people and organizations. Numerous libraries, archives, and universities
assisted me in my research. In Austria, the Institut für Kunstgeschichte
at the University of Vienna, where I received tremendous assistance
from Professor Hans Aurenhammer, and the Forschungsstelle für öster-
reichische Philosophie in Graz were open during the summer, helpful in
their advice, and efficient in making resources available. St. Stephen’s
and St. Agnes School in Alexandria, Virginia, where I taught history
between 1998 and 2001, generously provided me with an Association
of Parents and Teachers Grant to help fund a research trip to Austria in
the summer of 1999. And my colleagues in Virginia and at the Waring
School in Beverly, Massachusetts, where I taught between 2001 and
2003, provided intellectual encouragement as I wrote my dissertation
and then revised it into this book.
Of course, many of my debts are of a more personal nature. I do
not know if I would have even embarked on the project had it not been
for the support of several friends in Berkeley. Edouard Servan-Schreiber,
Mike Signer, and Ania Wertz provided friendship and encouragement at
a time when they were sorely needed. As I hunkered down to write in
Virginia, Jeremy Baguyos, Jean Hunt, and Boyd White picked up where
my Berkeley colleagues left off; they offered comradeship as well as
countless worthy excuses for not working. This account of distraction
would be incomplete without congratulating my high school students in
ix