A STRATEGY TO ENGAGE ART
Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) was a Jewish German art historian. Removed from his faculty position in Hamburg by the Nazi regime, and in fear for the safety of his family because of his alertness to the first signs of impending Holocaust, Panofsky relocated to Princeton University in the US. Panofsky is credited to have been a transformative voice in the discipline or art history. Panofsky influenced the discipline of art history especially in the US, as the country did not have a strong culture of academic art history when the German scholar arrived.
Of particular interest to those not steeped in the often-tedious methodology of art history is Panofsky’s three-step approach to engaging art. He provides a strategy to appreciate art, breaking down stages of engagement in a most accessible manner.
1. The best way to first approach an artwork is to ignore all subjects, symbols, and meanings and focus on the aesthetic qualities of the object itself. Ignore what an artwork might be about and just focus on how it appears. This analysis Panofsky calls the pre-iconographical. In art appreciation, the basic visual foundations of art are called the formal elements. The visual formal elements are line, shape, form, value (light), texture, and color. How these formal elements are arranged is the composition of an artwork. The formal elements are the visual language of fine art. The first step in appreciation is to ignore every narrative in and around an artwork and to see the artwork as an object-a composition of the formal elements.
2. Iconography is the second stratum Panofsky suggests a viewer decipher. Iconography is the story told in the artwork: Christ crucified, Buddha reclining, the Normans at Hastings. Iconography is different than the pre-iconographical because it requires the viewer to have a developed cultural literacy. Being familiar with and open to researching the established cultural story and imagery associated with an artwork, that is subject matter, enhances the viewer’s understanding of an artwork. The more informed one is about the Iconography of an artwork, the more one will be able to understand the artwork. Education increases appreciation.
3. Panofsky’s third and last stage is iconology: the intrinsic meaning/content of a work of art, that is content. Why was this artwork made of this subject in this manner at this particular place and time in history? This is Panofsky’s most transformative contribution to art appreciation. The skills of observation of the pre-iconographical, and the educated understanding of the iconography, combined with a third skill: critical thinking. What Panofsky proposes is that the viewer must consider the cultural and historical context in which a work was created, as well the personal situation of an artist’s life, in order to fully understand and appreciate an artwork. Although rooted in cultural traditions and historical facts, iconology will always retain a component of subjectivity…which makes it the most fun of the Panofsky’s stratums. Informed viewers can weigh the relevant material and propose interpretations and meanings. In the discipline of art history, this analysis though should be based on an understanding of historical context and not simply invented at the whim of the viewer.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Panofsky, Erwin.
EDITOR AND LAST UPDATE
John William Bailly 25 August 2025
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