Art history is a historical discipline characterised by diversity in theoretical approaches and research traditions. The national Art History Research School (OSK) distinguishes three disciplinary sub-domains: Early Modern Art, Modern and Contemporary Art, and Architecture, Urbanism and Historic Interiors. In addition, methodological sub-domains can be distinguished: material-technical research and studio practices; iconology; social history of art; world-art studies; art in postcolonial perspective; and art theory. The Art History domain covers a broad field of specialised and interdisciplinary research. It includes not only the specialisms related to diverse art forms. There are also often interdisciplinary links with other domains such as (cultural) history; museology and curating; philosophy; sociology; anthropology; neuroscience; and natural science research into techniques and materials; and with domains that are themselves interdisciplinary in orientation, such as cultural studies. Links with these domains are actively maintained.
Target groups
Art History in the Netherlands is internationally oriented, but it also has close professional relationships with practitioners at museums, exhibition business, art conservation and art restoration studios, as well as with designers, architects and journalism. Especially in contemporary art, there is close cooperation and/or exchange with artists and art academies. Architecture, Urban Planning and Historic Interiors has natural links with the heritage sector, both through governments and private research agencies. Fellow researchers, professional communities and the interested general public are reached through conferences; symposia; workshops; catalogues; trade journals and general magazines; podcasts; cultural education at various levels; and films and documentaries
Products and communication
- Academic publications often take the form of books, articles, catalogues and (essays in) edited volumes, in both Dutch and international journals.
- International publications tend to be in English. Many publications also appear in Dutch, however. These tend to be hybrid publications intended for professional/academic and general readers. Other relevant publication languages are German, French and Italian.
- Review processes are important in the context of national and international publications, often taking the form of peer reviews and editorial reviews.
Processes and strategies
- Cooperation and communication with professionals at museums, art academies, and other institutions.
- The most common type of publication is the ‘single-authored publication’, but as interdisciplinarity increases, we see more books and articles with multiple authors.
- Digital access to research data at various levels through open-source and web-based publications, databases, websites, etc. A side note here is that many oeuvre catalogues and illustrated monographs to which art historians attach great value usually do not appear digitally and not in open access, partly due to reproduction rights of images. On the other hand, these catalogues often appear in very high print runs and reach a wide audience.
Domain-specific aspects of quality and relevance
Catalogues, exhibitions (in museums and art institutions), historical and technical documentation.
Relevance of quantitative indicators for use and marks of recognition
Bibliometric indicators such as citation analyses are not useful, even if based on Google Scholar. That is because many of the publication channels are not indexed and because reference practices are too diverse.