The fourth international conference held in Prague dealing with the influence of the Vienna School of Art History will aim at Alois Riegl since whose death we will commemorate 120 years. The conference will review critically Riegl’s art history in broader context of history, aesthetics, philosophy, cultural studies and other related discourses within the former countries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The main aim of the conference is to show one of the main representative figures of the Vienna School of Art History beyond the mythical haze it can have in the current historiographical literature, and evaluate Riegl’s art history in relation to the contemporary historiographical research methods, focusing on broader cultural, social, ideological as well as intellectual circumstances. Therefore, the conference will accept contributions not only commemorating Riegl and his theory, history and methodology of art history and its positive reception by his students and followers, but it will welcome as well contributions critically reevaluating Riegl’s concepts, deliberately or by chance opposing his main methodological principles.

The keynote lecture Connoisseurship and Art History: Scenes from a Difficult Marriage with Examples from the Vienna School will be delivered by Professor Peter Burke, University of Cambridge.

Please submit the draft of your paper for a 20 minutes talk no later than 31 January 2025. The languages of the conference will be German and English. On the decision of acceptance/refusal of the proposed contribution will be the authors informed by the end of February 2025.

The conference takes place at the Institute of Art History, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic, on 2–3rd April 2025.

More information: https://www.udu.cas.cz/en/akce/the-vienna-school-of-art-history-iv