Max Dvořák today : from Geisteswissenschaften to Kulturwissenschaften

Max Dvořák is most frequently associated with the programme "art history as the history of the ideas", and so it might seem that he is too closely associated with an outdated phase in the historiography of art history. However, as has been shown earlier by those who know his texts and approaches well, in particular by Arthur Rosenauer, Ján Bakoš and Hans Aurenhammer, Dvořák's views on art history were in no way constant and unchanging, and he frequently altered them and defined them in greater detail. What was evidently most important for Dvořák was the historical basis of every possible art historical interpretation. The study therefore attempts to reconstruct his own historical basis, working from statements he made, and to compare his concept of art history with two methodical initiatives in arts disciplines: the first was the discussion on "Geisteswissenschaften" (the humanities, "human sciences") around the year 1900, and the second the similar debate in German circles today on "Kulturwissenschaften" (cultural studies, "cultural sciences"). The article published here puts forward several theses in turn, which are intended to help clarify Dvořák's place in the historiography of art history.