Art history

Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history.

Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, art history examines broader aspects of visual culture, including the various visual and conceptual outcomes related to art. Art history is a broad discipline encompassing many branches. Some focus on specific time periods, while others concentrate on particular geographic regions, such as the art of Europe. Thematic categorizations include feminist art history, iconography, the analysis of symbols, and design history.

Studying the history of art emerged as a means of documenting and critiquing artistic works, with influential historians and methods originating in Ancient Greece, Italy and China.

As a discipline, art history is distinguished from art criticism, which is concerned with establishing a relative artistic value for critiquing individual works. Within the discipline the art historian uses a historical method or a philosophy, such as historical materialism or critical theory, to analyze artworks.

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