Vasari, Schapiro, Schaafsma: Three Points of Departure for a Discussion of Style in Rock Art

Abstract

This article examines the concept of style by combining three approaches: that of Giorgio Vasari, whose work is a classic of Western art history, that of Meyer Schapiro, which mediates between art–historical and archaeological/anthropological disciplines, and that of Polly Schaafsma, an example of what stylistic analysis may achieve in rock art studies. We foreground rock art by reason of its ubiquity and time-depth, at the same time placing it in the context of any kind of depiction. In the course of the argument, we comment on a variety of relevant issues, such as those relating to progress in art; to realism; to the relation of style and history, that is, cultural context; and to quantitative as well as qualitative analytical methodologies.