Arnold Hauser (art Historian)
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Arnold Hauser (8 May 1892 – 28 January 1978) was a Hungarian-German
art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...
and sociologist who was perhaps the leading
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
in the field. He wrote on the influence of change in
social structure In the social sciences, social structure is the aggregate of patterned social arrangements in society that are both emergent from and determinant of the actions of individuals. Likewise, society is believed to be grouped into structurally rel ...
s on art.


Life and main works

Hauser studied history of art and literature in Budapest, Vienna, Berlin and Paris. Among his teachers were
Max Dvořák Max Dvořák (24 June 1874 – 8 February 1921) was a Czech-born Austrian art historian. He was a professor of art history at the University of Vienna and a famous member of the Vienna School of Art History, employing a '' Geistesgeschichte'' ...
in Vienna,
Georg Simmel Georg Simmel (; ; 1 March 1858 – 26 September 1918) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and critic. Simmel was influential in the field of sociology. Simmel was one of the first generation of German sociologists: his neo-Kantian approach ...
in Berlin,
Henri Bergson Henri-Louis Bergson (; ; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French philosopher who was influential in the traditions of analytic philosophy and continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the S ...
and
Gustave Lanson Gustave Lanson (; 5 August 1857 – 15 December 1934) was a French historian and literary critic. He taught at the Sorbonne and the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. A dominant figure in French literary criticism, he influenced several gen ...
in Paris. After
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
he spent two years in Italy, familiarizing himself with Italian art. In 1921, he moved to Berlin, and in 1924 to Vienna. By that time he had concluded, in his own words, that “the problem of art and literature, in the solution of which our time is most eagerly engaged, are fundamentally sociological problems.” Another crucial influence on Hauser was Hungarian philosopher Bernhard Alexander, which transmitted to Hauser an interest for both
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
and
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...
. This led to Hauser's systematic study of theater and, later, cinema as parts of the larger world of art. He embraced Marxism by first reading the writings of
György Lukács György Lukács (born Bernát György Löwinger; ; ; 13 April 1885 – 4 June 1971) was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher, literary historian, literary critic, and Aesthetics, aesthetician. He was one of the founders of Western Marxism, an inter ...
, then meeting him and becoming part of his Sonntagskreis in Budapest. It was in Budapest that Hauser published his first writings, between 1911 and 1918, including his doctoral dissertation about the problem of creating a systematic aesthetics, which appeared in the journal ''Athenaeum'' in 1918. He published very little in the next 33 years, devoting himself to research and travel. His life's work, the four volume ''Social History of Art'' (1951), argued that art—which, after a
Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( years ago) ( ), also called the Old Stone Age (), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of human prehist ...
period of naturalism, began as "flat, symbolic, formalized, abstract and concerned with spiritual beings"—became more realistic and naturalistic as societies became less hierarchical and authoritarian, and more
mercantile Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cred ...
and
bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...
(Harrington).


Criticism

Hauser's Marxist approach was criticized by
Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Ki ...
as “social determinism” going too far. Gombrich wrote in his review of ''The Social History of Art'' that Hauser's “theoretical prejudices may have thwarted his sympathies. For to some extent they deny the very existence of what we call the ’humanities’. If all human beings, including ourselves, are completely conditioned by the economic and social circumstances of their existence then we really cannot understand the past by ordinary sympathy.” Some scholars have argued that Gombrich saw Hauser as a typical exponent of Marxism, without appreciating his nuances and subtle critique of the most rigid forms of social determinism.Jim Berryman (2017), “Gombrich’s Critique of Hauser’s Social History of Art,” ''History of European Ideas'', vol. 43, no. 5, 494-506.


Writings

* 1951: ''Sozialgeschichte der Kunst und Literatur'' (The Social History of Art and Literature) * 1958: ''Philosophie der Kunstgeschichte'' (The Philosophy of Art History) * 1964: ''Der Manierismus. Die Krise der Renaissance und der Ursprung der modernen Kunst'' (Mannerism: The Crisis of the Renaissance and the Origin of Modern Art) * 1974: ''Soziologie der Kunst'' (The Sociology of Art) * 1978: ''Im Gespräch mit Georg Lukács'' kleiner Sammelband mit drei Interviews und dem Essay „Variationen über das tertium datur bei Georg Lukács“


References

* Harrington, Austin (2004). ''Art and social theory: sociological arguments in aesthetics''. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 64–68. * Alberto Tenenti: ''Hauser, Arnold: Art, histoire sociale et méthode sociologique''. In: ''Annales. Economies, Societes, civilisations''. Paris: 12(1957)3, S. 474–481. * Zoltán Halász: ''In Arnold Hauser’s workshop''. In: ''The new Hungarian quarterly''. Budapest: 16(1975)58, p. 90–96. * Ekkehard Mai: ''Kunst, Kunstwissenschaft und Soziologie. Zur Theorie und Methodendiskussion in Arnold Hausers „Soziologie der Kunst“''. In: ''Das Kunstwerk''. 1/1976, S. 3–10. * Jürgen Scharfschwerdt: ''Arnold Hauser''. In: Alphons Silbermann (Hrsg.): ''Klassiker der Kunstsoziologie''. Beck, München 1979. S. 200–222. * K.-J. Lebus: ''Eine sozialhistorische Sicht auf Kunst und Gesellschaft. (Annotation zur Herausgabe der Sozialgeschichte... im Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, 1987)''. In: ''Bildende Kunst''. Berlin: 35(1988)12, p. 572. * K.-J. Lebus: ''Zum Kunstkonzept Arnold Hausers''. In: ''Weimarer Beiträge''. Berlin 36 (1990) 6, p. 210–228.
online
* Jim Berryman, “Gombrich’s Critique of Hauser’s Social History of Art,” ''History of European Ideas'', vol. 43, no. 5, 2017, 494–506. * Csilla Markója, “The young Arnold Hauser and the Sunday Circle - The publication of Hauser’s estate”, ''Journal of Art Historiography'', 21, 2019, 1–20.


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hauser, Arnold 1892 births 1978 deaths Writers from Timișoara Hungarian art critics Hungarian sociologists Hungarian art historians Sociologists of art