Introduction: Reflections on Riegl Today

Michael Gubser
James Madison University
https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8315-8345

Volume 10, April 2026

Abstract

This introduction provides a brief overview of the articles on Alois Riegl in the most recent issues of The Edgar Wind Journal, and it reflects on the continued relevance of Riegl’s approach both for art historians and those outside the discipline.

Keywords Alois Riegl, Ibn Tulun mosque, art history, philosophy, ethics

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Bibliography

Elsner, Jas., ‘From Empirical Evidence to the Big Picture: Some Reflections on Riegl’s Concept of Kunstwollen’, in Critical Inquiry, 32.4 (2006), 741–766.

Gubser, Michael, Time’s Visible Surface: Alois Riegl and the Discourse on History and Temporality in fin-de-siècle Vienna (Detroit: Wayne State, 2006).

Olin, Margaret, and David Shulman, The Bitter Landscapes of Palestine (Bristol: Intellect Ltd., 2024).

Olin, Margaret, ‘Forms of Respect; Alois Reigl’s Concept of Attentiveness’, in Art Bulletin, 71 (1989), 285–299.

Wölfflin, Heinrich, Principles of Art History: The Problem of the Development of Style in Later Art (New York: Dover, 1950).