Reflections of an Old Art Historian

Abstract

When I received the invitation to give this year's banquet speech, I felt honored but also frightened. Frightened not so much because of my inexperience in facing such a huge crowd but because I did not feel up to the task that was assigned to me. I was supposed to discuss: “what is going on and what should go on in our profession and to give my personal perspective and appraisal of that.” How could I pretend that I have read everything which has been published by present day art historians and how should I know about all the young scholars who have only begun to give promise of a bright future for our discipline? But these anxieties were calmed by two considerations: first, that I could change the title of the speech to a less pretentious one yet keep the possibility of dealing in broad terms with the same subject. In fact I decided to call it simply: “Reflections of an Old Art Historian.” The second consideration was that the tension would be eased—and it was indeed so—when I realized that an after dinner talk should be fairly short and should not tax too heavily the attention of the listeners who, after such a busy day and long dinner, have a right to relaxation, if not to a light nap.