A book review of What is Art History? By Mark Roskill

Book Review

What is Art History? – Mark Roskill

Second Edition

The idiom, ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’, indeed, ratifies the essence of the discipline of art history. Art history deals with the study of objects of art in several discourses, including historical, social, economic, and political and development at the time the object was realized. An art historian needs to take into consideration all these elements while analyzing an art work before materializing a conclusion. Many works exist without any documentation, attributions, exact dating, etc. and the art historian needs to join all the dots and make a judgment. In such scenarios, it is the art work itself, which resonates a lot of information than any documentation. Thus, the art historian’s role is crucial and at the same time tedious.

Mark Roskill in the second edition of his book ‘What is Art History?’ published in September, 1989 by the University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst, draws upon the various roles of art historian by discussing major and controversial works. Recently expired in March, 2000, Roskill was a professor of history of modern art at the University of Massachusetts and an art historian. His inclination to art history might have come from his father, who was a naval historian and mother, a collector of paintings. The second edition of this book amends a few attributions and changes which occurred in the citation of the art works in that period (Between 1970s to 1989). Not only does the book talk about major works, but also about the pitfalls and questions that an art historian may face while studying an art work. Roskill has tried to cover various eras in the book.

In the introduction to the second edition Roskill states that the book is intended as a novice guide to art history and ‘may be termed as a service text’. One of the aims of writing this book was to encourage and interest the audience in the field of art history. Roskill aimed at bridging the gap between an amateur and a professional. The need to take art seriously and not just as luxury, was one of the main motives of this book. And why not? Art is not just a splash of colors on the canvas or a simple model or sculpture. It encompasses in it the secrets of the contemporary times when it was made.

In his book, Mark Roskill explains and exemplifies different roles and challenges faced by the art historian through the chapter wise structure of the book. Each chapter deals with a certain topic, say ‘collaboration between two artists’, which is then deconstructed by citing the example of Masaccio and Masolino and their works. The book covers a wide range of topics, from the origin art history to understanding a modern picture. Roskill has included legendary artists like Picasso, Masaccio, Masolino, Vermeer, Velasquez, Piero della Francesca, Han van Meergeren, and cited a lot from Vasari’s accounts and his understanding of the art. To note here, he has not however, included any women artists from any era.

The sentence structure is easy to read and understand the complex issues and elements put forth in the book. However, while Roskill tries to answer the question ‘what is art history?’ he only talks about paintings, leaving aside other mediums in art history. Being an art historian himself, Roskill tries to brief his readers with the current situation of the discipline of art history, through his introduction and epilogue. While he draws and cites artists and their art works from the Renaissance to the modern art, he precisely articulates the important elements of society, politics, economy and development which in turn affect any artist’s work at any given time.

The book is, indeed, a good read and much helpful to understand art history at a novice level and also can be helpful to students studying art history and visual arts as a part of their curriculum. 

~ Aishwarya Walvekar