E. H. Gombrich

E. H. Gombrich (1909–2001) was an Austrian-born British art historian. Educated at the University of Vienna, he moved to London in 1936 to join the Warburg Institute, the research centre that shaped his career. He directed the Institute from 1959 until his retirement in 1976.

Gombrich wrote for both general readers and specialists. His prose is conversational and wary of grand abstractions, often bringing an argument back to the practical choices artists make. He was especially interested in representation and visual perception: how inherited conventions guide artists, and how viewers complete or interpret an image.

The Story of Art, first published in 1950, became his best-known book and an enduring introduction to Western art. Art and Illusion examines the psychology of pictorial representation, while The Sense of Order turns to pattern and decoration. His other work includes Aby Warburg: An Intellectual Biography and A Little History of the World. Gombrich received the 1985 Balzan Prize for the history of Western art; he was knighted in 1972 and appointed to the Order of Merit in 1988.

Begin with The Story of Art. Its chronological journey from early image-making to modern art is broad, but the emphasis remains on close looking and concrete artistic problems. Readers who want to pursue its ideas about seeing and depiction should continue with Art and Illusion.