On the Systematics of Artistic Problems

Abstract

Focusing on the relationship between theory and document in the historical inquiry, Wind’s essay, first published in 1925, is relevant to all areas of art history. He argues against a purely formal, psychological or historical genealogical inquiry, and shows that the interpretation of a work of art cannot rely on a morphological description or on the reconstruction of techniques. It must be considered as a coherent solution to an ideal problem, specifically sought after by us. The opposition relation between the concepts of fullness and form is the original problem, the fundamental interpretative category for the interrogation of the artistic volition (Kunstwollen). Wind builds a scheme of fundamental artistic problems that can regulate the interrogation of different artworks, styles, and documentary material. He shows how we can approach art without depriving it of its autonomous character.