Milena Bartlová

Gombrich mnoha tváří

The last contribution from the cycle Looking Back is devoted to one of the most influential ever art-historical books of the second half of the 20th century. Art and Illusion by Ernst H. Gombrich was published in Czech translation in the middle of the eighties and was reviewed three times in the periodical Umění/Art (1966, 1969 and 1986). This contribution recapitulates these reviews and other theoretical studies directly devoted to this book. It also investigates the question of the overall influence of Gombrich’s theory of art history in the Czech art-historical environment and shows that Gombrich was read here paradoxically not in confrontation with the influential theories of Hans Seldmayr, but in hybrid fashion through them. It also deals with the political circumstances that influenced the reception of Gombrich’s thinking in our country, especially in connection with his close relationship to the ideas of Karl Popper (which were explicitly censored by the regime of the communist party dictatorship).

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