Is Art History needed?

What is art history in our daily lives and the different creative fields? On the occasion of its 20th anniversary, and until June, the National Institute of Art History (INHA) offers to reflect on the question through a program rich in meetings, conferences, conversations, and debates.

Art history belongs to everyone. She is everywhere. Not only in the halls of museums, but in our daily lives, invaded by images that are part of the history of those that preceded them. The history of art enriches us, opens us to the world, offers us the possibility of seeing it, thinking about it, analyzing it differently. On the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, the National Institute of Art History ( INHA) offers, until the end of the school year, a program of meetings, events, debates, digital content, etc., articulated around the question: "What is the use of art history today? ". The general public is invited to question themselves come and meet art historians, researchers, and creators from all walks of life, who will discuss their relationship to the history of art and how it irrigates their own work.

© Mikhail Villegas

A house for the history of art

"It seems fundamental to me to bring together points of view, to confront different viewpoints. I am very attached to the diversity of approaches, explains Éric de Chassey, director-general of the institute. There are a thousand and one ways to talk about images. Harmony comes from different voices, and INHA's role is to foster this polyphony. The history of art is not only societal; it is not only a matter of factual analysis. Individual commitment is essential. As in all fields, there is no single way of thinking. Each position is interesting and legitimate. Each vision feeds the debate. Art, like culture in general, brings us together ". Placed under the dual supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and the Ministry of Culture, the INHA was founded in 2001 in the spirit of a "house for the history art, "as imagined by the great art historian André Chastel (1912-1990). Located in the very center of Paris, at the heart of the Richelieu site, it is at the service of researchers, museum curators, students, etc.. It has a rich library of more than 150,000 books and journals, installed in the prestigious setting of the Labrouste room.

Éric de Chassey, director-general of the institute, places this 20th anniversary under the sign of meeting the public.

An unmissable event

Every year since 2011, the INHA has organized the art history festival, which has become an unmissable event, appreciated by specialists and by the general public. "We are a public establishment, and it is important to share what we do, continues Éric de Chassey. The institution's 20th anniversary offers another opportunity to meet as many people as possible. Through the programming that we have established, the objective is to show that art history is an important and useful discipline for every citizen, that it has a value in itself, that it crosses our lives, consciously or unconsciously ".

The INHA has launched a collection of video capsules, around 21 images – one per year, from 2001 to 2021 – which belong to the collective memory.

Coming from popular culture, music, fashion, the web, political, social or sports news, they are of very diverse natures, from the fire of Notre-Dame de Paris to the clip of Beyoncé shot in Louvre, passing by a view of the Place de la Nation, after the "Charlie Hebdo" attacks, on January 11, 2015. The idea was to offer art historians to analyze them according to the criteria and tools specific to art history, to invite the viewer to look at them differently. "It's about, in three minutes, to give tracks of decryption, to unfold the images, to show to what extent the history of art is anchored in our daily life, in the reality of our existences ", explains the CEO of INHA.

Look differently at the most viewed images in the world

Thus, under the eye of Pierre Watt, you will not see the green hill of Bliss in the same way, the Windows wallpaper, considered one of the most viewed images in the world. Another example is the image of Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on July 9, 2006, during the football World Cup final in Berlin, commented on with great finesse by Lou Forster. "Beyond its symbolic dimension, it refers to the iconography of the male body found in ancient ceramics or Greek sculpture, to a tradition of battle, to the figure of Hercules, but also to the dance and choreography, emphasizes Éric de Chassey. This image, which made such an impression, was taken up by the visual artist Adel Abdessemed, who made a sculpture of it, and by Philippe Parreno and Douglas Gordon, directors of the documentary film Zidane, a portrait of the 21st century, released in 2006".

Seen in Connaissance des Arts - Guillaume Morel