• Art history is the study of visual culture.ancient rock art in the himalaya image by Vladimir Melnik from Fotolia.com
  
  The Swiss art historian, Heinrich Wolfflin, delineated the principles of art history in his influential book Kunstgeschichtliche Grundbegriffe (The Principles of Art History), first published in 1915. In this book, Wolfflin explains five contrasting concepts that define the nature of a work of art. Wolfflin expanded on these concepts within the context of the shift from Renaissance to Baroque art, but the themes are more widely applicable to other eras as well.
  
  

Linear and Painterly

• This spectrum ranges from the purely linear, like an ink drawing, to the purely painterly, such as work by Mark Rothko. The former is characterized by a sharp delineation between areas of the work, with the emphasis on form and line. The latter is comprised of color and mass, and often features shading and gradual transition between fields.
  
  

Plane and Recession

• Although Wolfflin was writing long before the appearance of Abstract Expressionism, this pairing is most effectively demonstrated by that movement. Abstract Expressionism emphasized plane and flatness as a concession to the reality of the canvas over the illusion of perspective. Recession, on the other hand, is a characteristic of more traditional forms of art typified by Renaissance painting, in which the painter sought to overcome the flatness of the picture plane by creating an illusion of depth and perspective.
  
  

Closed and Open Form

• Most applicable to sculpture, the concepts of closed and open form can also be used in reference to the representations in painting. Closed form is represented in stasis, in solid mass, and in a cohesive, self-referencing composition, while open form is its opposite: lattice work, multi-directional, and engaged with surrounding space in a dynamic way.
  
  

Multiplicity and Unity

• Wolfflin saw multiplicity expressed in Classical art, and in the art that referenced it during the Renaissance. Multiplicity is achieved in the expression of independent yet coordinated elements, while unity is expressed in artworks that are dedicated to a single motive that overrides the independent existence of its parts.
  
  

Clearness and Unclearness

• Although when expressed in English these terms imply value judgments (clearness is good, unclearness is not good), Wolfflin didn't mean them in this way. Clearness represents a thorough expression of form, for example through lack of shadow or paradox, and unclearness represents its opposite: the inclusion of ambiguity through the use of shadow or other complicating device, thus preventing an exhaustive perception of form and allowing the subject matter to imply its own continuance.