Abstract
In his 1908 book “Abstraction and Empathy: A Contribution to the Psychology of Style”, Wilhelm Robert Worringer sets out his methodology. According to Worringer, all art is divided into two types: figurative, the creation of which is preceded by the impulse to empathy, and non-figurative, the aesthetic prerequisite of which is the will to abstraction. The book is often associated with German Expressionism. However, the prevailing scholarly consensus on the influence of Worringer on German Expressionism remains contentious. While Ursula Helg, Thomas Röske, Richard Hamann, Ulrich Weisstein contend for the substantiated influence of Worringer on German Expressionism, David Morgan, Michael Jennings demure, asserting that attributing Worringer to the primary ideologues of German Expressionism is misguided. In order to answer the question of whether Worringer could have been an influence on German Expressionism, it is necessary to turn to the conceptual origins of the will to abstraction. The will to abstraction is preceded, according to Worringer, by an immense spiritual fear of space, and one of the conceptual origins of the formation of the will to abstraction is the understanding of space as an a priori category of contemplation set out in the teachings of Kant. Another conceptual source of the will to abstraction is fear as understood by Kierkegaard. Consideration of the conceptual origins leads to the conclusion that German Expressionism, based mainly on Nietzsche, Schopenhauer and Bergson, and Worringer’s methodology have different foundations.
Presenters
Roksana GumerovaPhD Student, General History of Art, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation
