A study on Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's diverse art-cultural studies

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520188
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Study of the arts/History of the arts/Arts in general
• Research Institution: Ferris University
• Principal Investigator: KONDO Ariyuki フェリス女学院大学, 文学部, 教授 (00323288)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ニコラウス・ペヴスナー / 芸術文化史 / 近代デザイン史 / イギリス美術史 / 時代精神 / 中世主義

Outline of Final Research Achievements

According to Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the historian must always be aware of "contemporary developments" in society and must confront "contemporary needs". Galvanized by the dire social conditions in Germany in the early 1930s, Pevsner came to assert that the art historian whose subject of interest is the "visual expression of the history of man's mind" can no longer shut himself off from contemporary needs. In Pevsner's view, art historians had to "reconcile scholarship and direct utility" and, through their knowledge and appreciation of how artists and designers in the past confronted the needs of their times and worked for the good of society, could contribute to their contemporary society. Such functionalist-views of Pevsner constituted the bedrock of his diverse art-cultural studies, unhindered by distinctions between different types of artistic creation, viz., painting, architecture, decorative arts and industrial design, etc.

Free Research Field

イギリス芸術文化史