The History of Art History

The History of Art History in France is a book by Lynne Terin about the beginning of teaching art history and archeology in France, which tries to clarify aspects of the history of art history. Here is an extraction of its introduction:

Was there such a thing as art history teaching in France in the 19th century? This question is actually a brief statement of the topic of this book which rises from the very beginning. Emile Hall, Henri Fauciun, and Louis Otcourt are familiar names to everyone whenever there is a question about the emergence of art history in France. Further investigation brought other names like Louis Courage, Hippolyte Ten, Arcis Ducomon, and…; Therefore, we conclude that there has been so-called art history education in France since the first half of the 19th century; However, the condition and method of this training are not clear.

The book is about the beginning of teaching art history and archeology in France, which tries to clarify aspects of the history of art history. In other words, this book is about the field of art history itself, its growth over time, and its methods and influence on areas like natural history, history, and fine arts. Instead of researching educational methods, this book seeks the history of the emergence of this discipline in France and its establishment in the official educational curriculum institutions.

The preface of this book, in Persian version is written by Dr. Saeed Haghir, the book translator, and is as follows:

Today and at the end of the second decade of the 21st century, there is no independent field of study called art history in any of the art universities of our country. Although in some disciplines such as art research, philosophy of art, or studies of Iranian architecture in master’s and doctorate degrees, there are some discussions related to art history, these topics are not related to the formation of an independent field of study from the bachelor’s level to Ph.D. in the field of art history and its branches.

This lack of educational system has always caught my attention since 2007 when I was a faculty member in the Department of Higher Art Studies of Tehran University. The severe lack of focused educational knowledge in this field and among its graduate students has always been one of the most important educational issues to me. At first, I wanted to solve the problem in terms of developing art history education along with other subjects; But I was single-handed and it was a difficult path ahead.

In analyzing the reason for this problem, I came across a French textbook that the Persian translation is now ahead of you. This book, which is valuable research by Lin Terin and begins with a foreword written by one of the greatest masters of art history in the world, Gérard Meunier, tells how the field of art history formed in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries in France.