The Psychologizing of Modernity

In The Psychologizing of Modernity, Mark Jarzombek examines the impact of psychology on twentieth-century aesthetics. Analyzing the interface among psychology, art history and avant-gardist practices, he also reflects on the longevity of the myth of aesthetic individuality as it infiltrated not only avant-garde art, but also history writing. The principle focus of this study is pre-World War II Germany, where theories of empathy and Entartung emerged; and postwar America, where artists, critics and historians gradually shifted from their reliance on psychology to philosophy, and most recently, to theory.