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94:. His primary intention was to argue that it was possible to write a continuous history of ornament. This position is argued in explicit opposition to that of the "technical-materialist" school, according to which "all art forms were always the direct products of materials and techniques" and that ornamental "motifs originated spontaneously throughout the world at a number of different locations." Riegl associates this view with the followers of
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Thus the styles change of necessity, or to put it differently: in a kind of 'retrospective prophecy' the art historian shows that artistic development was compelled to move in the direction in which in fact it did. A view with most serious implications. One of them was that if one viewed art history in this way, absolute aesthetic norms became obsolete and had to be dropped.
246:
The final two chapters are therefore presented as a continuous history of vegetal ornament from ancient Egypt through to
Ottoman Turkey, in which individual motifs develop according to purely artistic criteria, and not through the intervention of technical or mimetic concerns. In the introduction it
287:
In the picture that Riegl draws of the development the changes of style are meaningful in a specific way; continuity is not merely carrying on; every stylistic phase creates its own problems which are solved in the succeeding one, only to create new conflicts for which new answers have to be found.
128:
As the technical-materialist position had attained the status of dogma, Riegl stated that "the most pressing problem that confronts historians of the decorative arts today is to reintegrate the historical thread that has been severed into a thousand pieces." Accordingly, he argued for a continuous
278:
constitutes his earliest general statement of principles, although his "theoretical thinking had not by any means reached maturity." By severing stylistic development from external influences, such as technical procedures or a desire to imitate nature, Riegl raised an extremely complicated set of
180:
The first chapter, "The
Geometric Style," argues that geometric ornament originated, not from such technical processes as wickerwork and weaving, but rather from an "immanent artistic drive, alert and restless for action, that human beings possessed long before they invented woven protective
212:, although they may originally have been endowed by the Egyptians with symbolic significance, were adopted by other cultures that "no longer understood their hieratic meaning," and thereby became purely decorative. In the most famous section of this chapter, Riegl argued that
189:. This ornament, he argued, developed from attempts to represent natural forms in two dimensions, which gave rise to the idea of an outline. After this "invention of line," the cave-dwellers proceeded to arrange lines "according to the principles of rhythm and symmetry."
560:. Rawson's Appendix, pp. 199-222, summarizes the early history of flower ornament around the Mediterranean: "Details of the present description differ from Riegl's analysis; however the general outline proposed follows his fascinating account" (p. 199)
243:. The arabesque is understood here as a geometricized version of earlier systems of tendril ornament, thereby establishing a "genetic relationship between the ornamental Islamic tendril and its direct predecessor, the tendril ornament of antiquity."
192:
The second chapter, "The
Heraldic Style," addresses compositions of "paired animals arranged symmetrically to either side of an intervening central element." This type of decoration had been associated by previous scholars, most notably
32:
115:
The theory of the technical, materialist origin of the earliest ornaments is usually attributed to
Gottfried Semper. This association is, however, no more justified than the one made between contemporary
204:
The third chapter, "The
Introduction of Vegetal Ornament and the Development of the Ornamental Tendril," traces an unbroken evolution of vegetal ornament from ancient Egyptian through to late
247:
is suggested that this development could be continued to Riegl's own time, and that "ornament experiences the same continuous, coherent development that prevails in the art of all periods."
201:-weaving. Riegl argued instead that heraldic ornament arose before the invention of mechanical weaving-looms, and stemmed from a desire for symmetry.
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is divided into an introduction, which sets out the purpose of the work, and four chapters, each on a theme in the history of artistic style.
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motif. It was therefore "a product of pure artistic invention," and not of "a simple compulsion to make direct copies of living organisms."
86:
while employed as director of the textile department at what was then the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und
Industrie (today the
77:, although this has been criticized by some. It has been called "the one great book ever written about the history of ornament."
129:
development of ornament from ancient
Egyptian through Greek and Roman and up to early Islamic and, eventually, Ottoman art.
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is unsatisfactory; it is not simply a question (or problem) of style." See also
Kathryn Brush's review of the translation,
87:
636:
557:
111:, 1878–79). However, Riegl consistently disassociates Semper's followers from Semper himself, writing that
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coverings for their bodies." He supported this position through an analysis of geometric ornament in
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602:. First edition, Berlin, George Siemens, 1893. Second edition, Berlin, Richard Carl Schmidt, 1923.
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remains a fundamental work in the history of ornament, and has heavily influenced the work of
47:. Iran, Sasanian period, 5th or 6th century AD, stucco originally with polychrome painting.
8:
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36:
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349:(New York, 2004), p.35 n.28: "Evelyn Kain's translation of what she strangely calls
235:," continues the development of the previous chapter through late antique and early
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questions regarding the actual source and significance of stylistic change. As
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not as a symptom of decline, but as the result of positive artistic concerns.
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For example, Benjamin
Binstock, "Alois Riegl, Monumental Ruin," in A. Riegl,
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European art, in particular objects that had recently been discovered in the
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164:'Abraham of Kütahya ewer', probably made in Kütahya, dated 1510. Ottoman
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Problemas de estilo: Fundamentos para una historia de la ornamentación
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Questions de style: fondements d'une histoire de l'ornementation
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Otto Pächt, "Art historians and art critics, vi: Alois Riegl,"
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Der Stil in den technischen Künsten; oder praktischer Ästhetik
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600:
Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer
Geschichte der Ornamentik
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Stilfragen: Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik
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40:
612:
French: Henri-Alexis Baatsch and Françoise Rolland, trs.,
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led directly into those of Riegl's next major study, the
607:
Problems of style: foundations for a history of ornament
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Problems of style: foundations for a history of ornament
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in the 1992 English translation) during the 1890s...."
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in 1893. The English translation renders the title as
269:, among others who have addressed the same themes.
628:
552:, pp. 24-25, 1984, British Museum Publications,
308:, 1901), in which he approached style change in
224:, but was rather a sculptural adaptation of the
98:, who had advanced a related argument in his
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208:. Here Riegl argues that motifs such as the
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550:Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon
106:Style in the technical arts; or practical
220:, as had been believed since the time of
609:. Princeton, Princeton University, 1992.
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619:Spanish: Federico Miguel Saller, tr.
347:Historical Grammar of the Visual Arts
272:Within Riegl's work as a whole, the
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623:. Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, 1980.
357:74 (1994), p. 355: "Riegl wrote
197:, with the technical demands of
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58:is a book on the history of
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301:Spätrömische Kunstindustrie
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88:Museum für angewandte Kunst
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149:and half-palmettes in the
593:Editions and translations
569:Henri Zerner, "Preface,"
292:Thus the concerns of the
231:The fourth chapter, "The
216:was not derived from the
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16:1893 book by Alois Riegl
584:The Burlington Magazine
306:Late Roman art industry
637:1893 non-fiction books
416:, tr. Kain, pp. 17-18.
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69:. It was published in
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616:. Paris, Hazan, 2002.
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392:(London, 1984), 182.
365:(curiously entitled
390:The sense of order
363:Questions of style
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141:Stone relief with
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37:Confronted animals
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642:Art history books
571:Problems of style
534:Problems of style
522:Problems of style
510:Problems of style
498:Problems of style
486:Problems of style
474:Problems of style
462:Problems of style
450:Problems of style
440:, tr. Kain, p. 12
438:Problems of style
428:, tr. Kain, p. 4.
426:Problems of style
414:Problems of style
404:, tr. Kain, p. 4.
402:Problems of style
367:Problems of Style
351:Problems of Style
327:Master of Animals
214:acanthus ornament
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267:Ernst Gombrich
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218:acanthus plant
151:Umayyad Mosque
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166:İznik pottery
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145:of tendrils,
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251:Significance
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210:lotus flower
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45:Tree of Life
18:
241:Islamic art
67:Alois Riegl
26:Alois Riegl
631:Categories
558:0714114316
377:References
359:Stilfragen
295:Stilfragen
281:Otto Pächt
275:Stilfragen
258:Stilfragen
174:Stilfragen
143:arabesques
108:aesthetics
83:Stilfragen
43:, flank a
239:and into
237:Byzantine
233:Arabesque
222:Vitruvius
206:Roman art
183:Stone Age
147:palmettes
118:Darwinism
28:, c. 1890
598:German:
316:See also
226:palmette
187:Dordogne
155:Damascus
133:Contents
60:ornament
573:, xxii.
39:, here
556:
122:Darwin
92:Vienna
71:Berlin
41:ibexes
361:, or
333:Notes
90:) in
554:ISBN
265:and
255:The
199:silk
171:The
120:and
633::
548:,
153:,
304:(
124:.
104:(
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