The Third Eye of an Art Historian Cover Image

Třetí oko historika/historičky umění
The Third Eye of an Art Historian

Author(s): Eva Skopalová
Subject(s): Visual Arts, History of Art
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Nakladatelství Karolinum
Keywords: third eye; intuition; Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz; anachronism; methodology of art history

Summary/Abstract: The third eye of an art historian is the issue of intuition as a tool for the anachronistic methodology of art history. In this paper, by calling the anachronistic perspective on art history a method, I would like to point to the original meaning of the word method as a way. The perception of art is an event of looking, the sight of the work of art is also insight. This is only possible via intuition, which comes from the Latin tueri, or “looking into”. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz considered intuitive knowledge as the most appropriate form of cognition, because it is cognition a priori. I have analyzed the methodological approach to history by Georges Didi-Huberman and intuition seems to be the key. I have also distinguished its use in the works of Alexander Nagel and Christopher S. Wood. However, they rationalized this highly creative tool; we can conclude that their use of intuition makes an anachronistic method of the anachronistic perspective, supporting the creativity of the art historian. The method is one by which we make various insights todecentralize the hyper structure of history with unpredictable interpretations that differ each time we look inside.

  • Issue Year: 2019
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 255-262
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: Czech