Art Studies, Institutes of
Art Studies, Institutes of
first appeared around 1870. Among the earliest institutes of art studies were the Society of the History of French Art (Paris, founded in 1870), the Society of the History of Swiss Art (Basel, 1880), the Institute for the Study of the History of Art (Florence, 1888), and the National Institute of Arts and Letters (New York, 1898). The first Russian institute of art studies was the Institute of the History of Arts. Its founding by V. P. Zubov in St. Petersburg in 1912 marked the beginning of complex systematic research in art studies in Russia.
Earlier institutes, learned societies, archives, and commissions worked in the fields of history, archaeology, and ethnology. The most important institutes of art studies were founded in the 20th century. Art history and theory are also studied at educational institutions (for example, universities and conservatories), museums, libraries, and film libraries and by learned societies. Scholarly forces also group themselves around periodical publications.
There are several important institutes of art studies in capitalist countries. In Great Britain there are the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Warburg Institute (founded in 1905 in Germany, where it remained until 1933) at the University of London, the British Film Institute (1933), and the Society for Theater Research (1948)—all are in London. Among French institutes of art studies in Paris there are the International Theatrical Institute (1948), the Institute of Art and Archaeology, the Society of the History of the Theater (1948), the Institute of Musicology (1951), and the Higher Institute of Cinematography (1944). In the Federal Republic of Germany are the Central Institute for the History of Art (Munich, 1946), the Society for the Study of German Art (West Berlin, 1908), and the State Institute of Musicology (West Berlin, 1935). The Institute for the Study of Austrian Art (1911), the Society of Comparative Art Studies (1932), the Art History Society (1958), the Society of the Viennese Theater (1944), and the Austrian Society for Film Sciences (1952) are among the Austrian institutes of art studies in Vienna.
Italy is the site of the National Institute of Archaeology and Art History (1922), the Italian Institute for the History of Music, the Italian Center of Theater Research, and the Experimental Center of Cinematography (1935) in Rome, as well as the International Center of Arts and Costume (1951) in Venice and Milan. In Spain there are the Diego Velásquez International Institute of Art in Madrid, as well as the Art Institute of the University of Zaragosa (1953), the Institute of Hispanic Art (1941), and the Theatrical Institute (1913) in Barcelona. Other European institutes of art studies include the Swiss Institute of Art Study in Zurich (1951), in Belgium the Higher Institutes of the History of Art and Archaeology in Ghent (1920) and Lou-vain (1942), the Netherlands Institute for Art History in The Hague (1930), the Netherlands Film Institute in Amsterdam (1948), and the Swedish Society for Musicology in Stockholm (1919).
In the United States there are the American Musicological Society in Philadelphia (1934) and the American Society for Aesthetics in Cleveland (1942). Other institutes of art studies in the western hemisphere include the Canadian Film Institute in Ottawa (1935); the National Institute for the Study of the Theater in Cordoba, Argentina; and the Research Institute of Peruvian and American Art in Lima (1943).
In Japan are the Institute of Art Research (1930), the Society for Research in Asiatic Music (1936), the Japan Art History Society (1949), the Society for Theater Research (1949), and the Japanese Musicology Society (1952), all in Tokyo. In the United Arab Republic, there are institutes of Arab music in Alexandria and Cairo.
In Russia, prior to 1917, the centers of art studies were the universities, museums, and historical and archaeological societies and institutes. After the revolution committees for the protection of art and historical monuments and organizations of local lore were established. Commissions and sections of the Academy of Sciences and its affiliates were also organized. In the USSR a wide network of institutions of art studies has been created to study historical and theoretical problems of Soviet, Russian, and foreign art.
In the 1920’s the Institute of Artistic Culture in Moscow (1920–24) and the State Institute of Artistic Culture in Leningrad (1923–27) were primarily occupied with problems of fine and decorative arts. In Moscow the center of musicology was the State Institute of Musicology (1921–31). The State Academy of Artistic Disciplines (1921–31), which later became the State Academy for Art Studies (1931–36, in Leningrad since 1933), was devoted to a wide range of problems in art studies. The Institute of Literature, Art, and Language was a part of the Communist Academy (1918–36), and the Institute of Archaeology and Art Studies was a member of the Russian Association of the Scientific Research Institutes of Social Sciences (1924–30). The State Institute for the History of Arts (1921–31) in Leningrad was founded on the basis of the first Russian institute of art studies.
Much research in art studies has been connected with the Academy of the History of Material Culture (1919–37) and with its successor, the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. The work of the Institute for the History of Arts of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR in Moscow (founded under the guidance of I. E. Grabar’ in 1944), which was a part of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR until 1961, is devoted to the complete study of various arts and their history. Similar studies are pursued by the Institute of Theater, Music, and Cinematography in Leningrad, which was founded in 1936 on the basis of the State Academy for Art Studies as a scientific research institute of art studies. From 1939 to 1961 it was known as the Scientific Research Institute for the Theater and Music. Problems of fine and decorative arts are being studied by the Scientific Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts (1948) of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. The Scientific Research Institute of Theory, History, and Long-range Problems of Soviet Architecture (1946) deals with problems of architecture. The Scientific Research Institute of Art Industry (1934) is devoted to decorative folk art. Problems of artistic construction are dealt with by the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Technical Aesthetics (1962) of the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for Science and Technology in Moscow.
The activities of institutes of art studies in the various republics (primarily at the academies of sciences of the Union republies) are devoted to the study of the artistic culture of the peoples of the USSR. Among these institutes are the M. F. Ryl’skii Institute of Art Studies, Folklore, and Ethnology in Kiev; the Institute of Art Studies, Ethnology, and Folklore in Minsk; the Institute of Architecture and Art in Baku; the Institute of Art in Yerevan; the Institute of the History of Georgian Art in Tbilisi; the Khamza Institute for Art Studies of the Ministry of Culture of the Uzbek SSR in Tashkent; and the M. O. Auezov Institute of Literature and Art in Alma-Ata. Other centers for art studies are the department of aesthetics and art studies in the Institute of Philosophy and Law in Frunze, the department of the history of art at the A. Donish Institute of History in Dushanbe, the department of art studies at the Sh. Batyrov Institute of History in Ashkhabad, the departments of art studies at the institutes of history in Vilnius and Tallinn, the department of ethnology and art studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Moldavian SSR in Kishinev, and the department of art studies of the Institute of Languages, Literature, and History in Kazan. Certain departments of higher educational institutions, museums, libraries of science, and Gosfil’mofond (the All-Union State Film Fund) are also centers for art studies.
There are many prominent institutes of art studies in socialist countries. In the People’s Republic of Bulgaria there is the Institute of Music (1948), the Institute of Fine Arts (1949) of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and the Research Institute of Cinematography and Radio (1954) in Sofia. The Institute of Art History (1969) and the Institute of Music (1961) of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Theatrical Sciences, and the Scientific Research Institute of Cinematography are situated in Budapest in the Hungarian People’s Republic. There is the German Academy of Arts (Berlin, 1950) in the German Democratic Republic and the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (Warsaw, 1949) in the Polish People’s Republic. In the Socialist Republic of Rumania are the Institute of the History of Art (1949) and the Institute of Ethnology and Folklore (1949) in Bucharest, as well as the Center of History, Philology, and History of Art in Tîrgu-Mureş.—all are a part of the Academy of Social and Political Sciences. Institutes of art studies in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic include the Institute of the Theory and History of the Arts (1952), the Institute of Musicology at the Academy of Sciences of the CSSR, and the Theater Institute (1956) in Prague, as well as the Institute of the Theory and History of Art (1952), the Institute of Musicology, and the Institute of the Slovak Theater of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava. In the Socialist Federated Republic of Yugoslavia there is the Institute of Musicology (1947) in Belgrade, as well as the Institute for Folk Arts (1948) and the Institute of Literature and Theater of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb.