Abstraction and Empathy

I'm reviewing this book under the caveat that, because art isn't really my area of expertise, I feel like I didn't retain all that much of it.

Worringer's study, a publication of his doctoral thesis, is certainly well-conceived, arguing in favor of a binary between the empathy invoked by realistic art and the fears and inadequacies that appear as a result of the abstraction that appears in medieval and modern art.

The book is obviously geared towards those with a strong background in art history, though his inclusion of examples relating to history and literature are useful for broadening his argument. The practical section is the more useful of the two, elucidating through example the somewhat ponderous theoretical section (which, I have show more no doubt, would be more of a breeze for the art-inclined). Ultimately, the recapitulations of his argument and its major points do keep things grounded, even when the text feels as if it's going to veer off over the layman's head.

Influential, for sure, and especially for those studying the modernist aesthetic, but this is a very specialized work and should be approached cautiously by those outside of the realm of its reach. show less