Description: Diana Cordileone applies standard methods of cultural and intellectual history for close readings of Riegl's published texts, several of which are still unavailable in English. Using archival and other primary sources this study also illuminates the institutional conflicts and imperatives that shaped Riegl's oeuvre. The result is a multi-layered philosophical, cultural and institutional history of this art historian's work of the fin-de-siècle that demonstrates his close relationship to several of the significant actors in Vienna at the end of the nineteenth century.
Review Quotes:
'... impressive book ... makes some important methodological as well as historical points.' - Art Newspaper
'The strongest parts of the book are those in which she concentrates on historical details, drawing on careful archival research and an excellent knowledge of her sources, to provide an explanatory context for Riegl's essays and monographs.' - Austrian Studies
'[An] accomplished new monograph.' - Oxford Art Journal