E. H. Gombrich was director of the Warburg Institute and Professor of the History of the Classical Tradition
at the University of London, 1959 - 1976. He was born in 1909 in Vienna, where he studied the history of art under
Julius von Schlosser and classical archaeology under Emanuel Loewy. He has been Slade Professor of Fine Art at
both Oxford and Cambridge, Visiting Professor at Harvard, Spencer Trask Lecturer at Princeton, and Walker Ames
Professor at the University of Washington. His best-known book, The Story of Art (1950) has been translated
into thirteen languages.
Review
"Ernst Gombrich is indeed Master Scholar of the highest distinction. He has explored the mysterious links
between perception and art--adding to both in the process, with a score of superb books on the history and philosophy
of art. . . . [Art and Illusion's] riches can only be appreciated by careful reading, more than once."
--Richard Gregory, Perception
"[Sir Ernst's] own theory of perception, put forward in Art and Illusion . . . arguably his most important
book, was controversial in almost every detail. But it brought the topic of the visual back to the centre of the
history of the visual arts, from where it had been strangely displaced."
--The Economist
"I have learned a great deal from this volume, but what I shall remember about it is the author's warmth and
wit, the fabulous range of his references and the richness of personality that lies behind the whole performance."
--The New York Times
Priceton University Press Web Site, December, 2000
Summary
Considered a great classic by all who seek for a meeting ground between science and the humanities, Art and
Illusion examines the history and psychology of pictorial representation in light of presentday theories of visual
perception information and learning. Searching for a rational explanation of the changing styles of art, Gombrich
reexamines many ideas on the imitation of nature and the function of tradition. In testing his arguments he ranges
over the history of art, noticing particularly the accomplishments of the ancient Greeks, and the visual discoveries
of such masters as Leonardo da Vinci and Rembrandt, as well as the impressionists and the cubists. Gombrich's triumph
in Art and Illusion arises from the fact that his main concern is less with the artists than with ourselves, the
beholders.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface to the 2000 Edition
Preface
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction: Psychology and the Riddle of Style
PART ONE: The Limits of Likeness
Chapter 1. From Light into Paint
Chapter 2. Truth and the Stereotype
PART TWO: Function and Form
Chapter 3. Pygmalion's Power
Chapter 4. Reflections on the Greek Revolution
Chapter 5. Formula and Experience
PART THREE: The Beholder's Share
Chapter 6. The Image in the Clouds
Chapter 7. Conditions of Illusion
Chapter 8. Ambiguities of the Third Dimension
PART FOUR: Invention and Discovery
Chapter 9. The Analysis of Vision in Art
Chapter 10. The Experiment of Caricature
Chapter 11. From Representation to Expression
