Riegl and Wölfflin: A Tale of Two Art Histories

Heinrich Wölfflin (1864–1945) and Alois Riegl (1858–1905) are recognized in art history as central figures in establishing formalist art history as a modern scientific discipline, grounded in the material record of artworks and oriented toward reproducible results. This essay argues that their projects represent two very different epistemological cultures—two different views of what it means to systematically engage with the field of visual art within a historical context. Beginning with their familiar terminology for characterizing artworks in terms of periods and styles, the argument repositions Riegl as the more modern art historian, who addresses art in light of scientific ideas about historical-cultural and experiential frameworks of sense and reference within historical communities. While Wölfflin links art forms to historical progress in an abstract sense—an approach deriving from German classicist aesthetics—Riegl situates artworks within historical-anthropological frameworks, viewing them as part of a community’s means of communicating experience.