Is Art History? : Selected Writings

Spanning six decades, this critical compilation gathers Svetlana Alpers’ award-winning writings on art history

A definitive volume of writings by one of the most renowned art historians of the past century, Is Art History? brings together Svetlana Alpers’ contributions to the art historical discipline. Her writing spans over six decades: beginning with seminal essays written in examination of the constraints of the art historical discipline, including a foundational essay on Vasari (1960), “Is Art History?” (1970), “Style Is What You Make It” (1979) and “Art History and Its Exclusions” (1982); two never before published lectures and other unpublished public presentations; notable critical essays on art and recent texts on contemporary artists including Alex Katz, Catherine Murphy and Shirley Jaffe.
Is Art History? also includes new prefatory notes written by the author for this occasion, an unexpected introduction by her former student, the esteemed scholar-critic Richard Meyer, and an interview with the German author and critic Ulf Erdmann Ziegler. This extensive view of Alpers’ prolific and varied career appeals both to new readers in need of an introduction and to audiences familiar with her essential writing on the great European tradition of painting.
Svetlana Alpers (born 1936) is the author of The Art of Describing and Rembrandt’s Enterprise, among other titles. Alpers taught at the University of California, Berkeley from 1962 to 1994 and is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including being named a Fellow of the American Academy of Art and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. Alpers cofounded the interdisciplinary journal Representations in 1983.