Heinrich Wölfflin and the Problem of Style in the Visual Arts: Introduction and Translation

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34024/83t31w54

Keywords:

Heinrich Wölfflin, Style, Formalism, Art Historiography

Abstract

The Problem of Style in the Visual Arts, originally delivered as a lecture by Heinrich Wölfflin in 1911, stands as a landmark in the historiography of art. It presents, for the first time to a wider audience, a synthesis of the methodological model that would later be developed in his 1915 masterpiece, Principles of Art History. This first-ever translation into Portuguese aims to offer Brazilian readers not only access to this seminal formulation of modern art historiography, but also to a profound theoretical reflection on the dual roots of style and its interpretation from an optical-formal perspective.

Author Biography

  • Serzenando Alves Vieira Neto, UNIFESP

    Pesquisador visitante de pós-doutorado (FAPESP), Bibliotheca Hertziana – Instituto Max Planck de História da Arte.
    Pesquisador de pós-doutorado (FAPESP), Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP).

References

GANTNER, Joseph (org.). Heinrich Wölfflin 1864-1945: Autobiographie, Tagebücher und Briefe. Basel/Stuttgart: Schwabe & Co., 1982.

HAGEN, Oscar. Neue Ziele der Kunstgeschichtsschreibung. Zu Heinrich Wölfflins neuem Buch “Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe”. Zeitschrift für bildende Kunst, v. 51, n. 27, p. 153-160, 1916.

HART, Joan Goldhammer. Heinrich Wölfflin: an intellectual biography. Tese (Doutorado em História da Arte) – University of California, Berkeley, 1981.

LEONARDO DA VINCI; LUDWIG, Heinrich. Das Buch von der Malerei. Wien: Braumüller, 1882.

LEVY, Evonne. Wölfflin’s Principles of Art History (1915-2015): A Prolegomenon for Its Second Century. In: Wölfflin, Heinrich. Principles of Art History. Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute, 2015, p. 1-46.

PANOFSKY, Erwin. Das Problem des Stils in der bildenden Kunst. Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, v. 10, p. 460-467, 1915.

RODENWALDT, Gerhart. Wölfflins Grundbegriffe und die antike Kunst. Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft, v. 11, p. 432-441, 1916.

ROTHACKER, Erich. Wölfflins kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe. Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft, v. 41, p. 168-176, 1919.

VOSS, Hermann. “Künstlergeschichte” oder “Kunstgeschichte ohne Namen”? Entgegnung an Heinrich Wölfflin. Kunstchronik und Kunstmarkt, v. 55, n. 31, p. 435-438, 1919.

WARNKE, Martin. On Heinrich Wölfflin. Representations, n. 2, p. 172-187, 1989.

WEDDIGEN, Tristan. Approaching Wölfflin’s Principle. In: Wölfflin, Heinrich. Principles of Art History. Los Angeles: The Getty Research Institute, 2015, p. 47-68.

WÖLFFLIN, Heinrich. Die klassische Kunst: eine Einführung in die italienische Renaissance. München: F. Bruckmann, 1899.

WÖLFFLIN, Heinrich. Die Künst Albrecht Dürers. München: Bruckmann, 1905.

WÖLFFLIN, Heinrich. Das Problem des Stils in der bildenden Kunst. Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, p. 572-578, 1912.

WÖLFFLIN, Heinrich. Über den Begriff des Malerischen. Kunstwart und Kulturwart, v. 26, n. 20, p. 104-109, 1913a.

WÖLFFLIN, Heinrich. Über den Begriff des Malerischen. Logos, n. 4, p. 1-7, 1913b.

WÖLFFLIN, Heinrich. Conceitos fundamentais da história da arte. Trad. João Azenha Jr. São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 2006 [1915].

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Published

2025-12-12

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 1 (2025): Medievalisms and the Arts in the Nineteenth Century

Section

Translations and Documents

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Serzenando Alves Vieira Neto

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How to Cite

Heinrich Wölfflin and the Problem of Style in the Visual Arts: Introduction and Translation (S. Alves Vieira Neto , Trans.). (2025). Imagem: Revista De História Da Arte, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.34024/83t31w54
Received 2025-06-09
Accepted 2025-08-11
Published 2025-12-12