Introduction - Will Rea - Anthropology at the Origins of Art History

A reoccurring theme from the 1980s was the discourse on the end of traditional art history, as seen through various theorists.
- Notable theorists included Donald Preziosi, Victor Burgin, and Hans Belting.
- Art history was perceived to be in a state of crisis for several reasons.

Impact of Neighboring Disciplines:
- The conceptual and methodological influences of neighboring subjects such as:
  - Psychoanalysis
  - Sociology
  - Literary theory
  - Anthropology
- As boundaries of humanities blurred, the identity and stability of art history began to collapse, prompting intensive exploration of its origins and history.
Crisis Paralleling the ‘Death of Art’:
- During this time, discussions around the ‘death of art’ were prevalent.
- The works of artists like Hans Haacke, Marcel Broodthaers, and many involved with Art & Language contributed to the challenges faced by art history, where the distinction between 'art' and critical discourse or analysis diminished significantly.

Hal Foster's ‘ethnographic turn’ elucidated a significant shift in art theory.
- Foster doesn’t refer to formal ethnography but emphasizes cultural alterity.
- Historical attention to alterity in art history was present, notably with Alois Riegl's focus on marginal forms of art and neglected eras.
- Traditional Marxist art history engaged with the conditions of artistic production and marginalized artwork but mainly did so through economic paradigms.

In the contemporary context, alterity is considered across various dimensions:
- Gender identity
- Ethnic affiliation
- Sexual orientation
The concept of alterity is now linked to a richer cultural semiology, expanding the traditional anthropological examination of the 'primitive other'.
Art history is repositioned as an exploration of visual representations across a diversely constituted cultural landscape. For instance, recent anthologies include analyses on:
- Robert Ryman's paintings
- Rhetoric surrounding cigarette advertising
- The urban environment of London’s East End

There is a profound historical backdrop to the ‘ethnographic turn’, often rooted in Enlightenment concerns with the primitive.
- Enlightenment thought is characterized by a quest for origins, evident in:
  - Wilhelm von Humboldt’s study of language origins
  - Charles Darwin’s exploration of species origins
  - Friedrich Nietzsche’s genealogy of philosophical values
  - Sigmund Freud’s analysis of primal layers within the self
Emphasis on historical process and human existence has structured philosophical and anthropological inquiries since the Enlightenment.
The Enlightenment trajectory, from Vico’s ‘New Science’ (1725) to Adorno and Horkheimer’s ‘Dialectic of Enlightenment’ (1944), showcases a sustained concern with origins and historical narratives.

The intersection of aesthetic experience and historical context is posited as a core foundation for the emergence of art history as a distinct discipline.
The early history of art reflects a primarily Eurocentric lineage from Ancient cultures through to modern European developments.
- Considerable speculation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries linked art history with anthropological insights on art’s origins, before moving toward narrower focuses on attribution and Western art.

The essay invites revisiting the historical foundations of the ethnographic turn, highlighting a dynamic period pre-formation of rigid disciplinary boundaries.

Immanuel Kant’s ‘Critique of Judgement’ (1790) is a central reference for modern art theory, regarded as a philosophical framework outlining the principles of aesthetic experience.
- Kant’s aesthetic experience hinges on the creative exercise of imagination which leads to a dynamic of identification and misidentification, resulting in what Kant describes as an “aesthetic universal delight.”
- This “quickening of cognitive powers” is subjective yet can be shown applicable across various phenomena, particularly in artworks where pure formal characteristics are the focal point of aesthetic contemplation.
- For instance, in visual art, the emphasis is placed on structural design over color and the dismissal of ornamentation as extraneous to intrinsic artistic value.

Kant’s theory suggests that the experience of art transcends mere sensory perception, calling for engagement with its formal properties.