Twentieth-century Issues in Learning and in Art
After a lifetime dedicated to historical research (briefly and vividly recorded in the introductory chapter), the author of 'The Story of Art', 'Art and Illusion' and 'The Sense of Order' explores in this book some of the most urgent issues confronting the student of art and civilisation today.
Never a narrow specialist, Professor Gombrich has always been deeply concerned with the central questions of value and tradition in culture. This collection of highly readable and hard-hitting essays draws on his wide experience and knowledge to put forward radical proposals for the reform of higher education and to attack the modish and destructive tendencies of relativism. The same concerns for values informs the author's plea for the conservation of our cities, his study of the history of drawing procedures and his essays on the titling of pictures and the intellectual origins of Cubism. The volume concludes with engaging and thought-provoking studies of Oskar Kokoschka and three twentieth-century masters of commercial art, satirical humour and photography.
Includes black-and-white illustrations.
