Max Imdahl (September 6, 1925 in
Aachen
Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...
– October 11, 1988 in
Bochum
Bochum ( , also , ; wep, Baukem) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 364,920 (2016), is the sixth largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) of the most populous German federal state of N ...
)
was a German
art historian
Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today, ...
specialized in art historical methodology and the interpretation of modern art after World War II.
Life and work
Imdahl studied studio painting, art history, archaeology and
German literature
German literature () comprises those literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy and to a less ...
at the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...
. For his paintings he won the
Blevins Davis Prize, the most prestigious art contest of the postwar period in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, in 1950. In 1951 he completed his Ph.D. dissertation on the treatment of color in late Carolingian book illustration under
Werner Hager. He worked as an assistant professor at the University of Münster for some years and wrote his
Habilitation
Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including ...
sschrift on Ottonian Art in 1961. In 1965, he was appointed professor of art history at the newly founded
Ruhr Universität Bochum
The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began in ...
, where he was engaged in promoting modern art and in advising the university's modern art collection. From 1986 until his death, he was also a member of the German Academy of Arts.
Imdahl formulated a
methodology
In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for br ...
he called "the Iconic," using an artwork's structure to determine its significance.
[Max Imdahl, ''Giotto: Arenafresken: Ikonographie, Ikonologie, Ikonik''. Munich: W. Fink, 1980.] His color analyses are characteristic of his approach. Furthermore, he primarily focused on examinations of the work of individual painters. Marxist interpreters accused him of using analytical methods that lacked historical awareness. They also criticized his preference for
concrete
Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
(object-free) Western Art. In contrast, he found support for his ideas among philosophers and Catholic theologians.
Further reading
*''Metzler Kunsthistoriker Lexikon: Zweihundert Porträts deutschsprachiger Autoren aus vier Jahrhunderten''. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1999, pp. 185–187.
*Hans Robert Jauß, "In Memoriam Max Imdahl." In ''Max Imdahl: Gesammelte Schriften''. vol. 3. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1996, pp. 644–52.
*Gottfried Boehm, Karlheinz Stierle and Gundolf Winter, eds., ''Modernität und Tradition: Festschrift für Max Imdahl zum 60. Geburtstag''. Munich: W. Fink, 1985.
*Hubertus Kohle, "Max Imdahl". In Ulrich Pfisterer, ed., ''Klassiker der Kunstgeschichte'', vol. 2, Munich: C. H. Beck, 2008, pp. 217–225.
Select publications
*Angeli Janhsen-Vukicevic, Gundolf Winter and Gottfried Boehm, eds., ''Max Imdahl: Gesammelte Schriften''. 3 vols. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1996.
*''Picassos Guernica''. Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1995.
*"Die Zeitstruktur in Poussins 'Mannalese'." In Clemens Fruh, Raphael Rosenberg and Hans-Peter Rosinski, eds., ''Kunstgeschichte, aber wie? Zehn Themen und Beispiele''. Berlin: Reimer, 1989.
*''Farbe: Kunsttheoretische Reflexionen in Frankreich''. Munich: W. Fink, 1987.
*''Giotto: Arenafresken: Ikonographie, Ikonologie, Ikonik''. Munich: W. Fink, 1980.
*(with Gustav Vriesen), ''Robert Delaunay: Light and Color''. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1969.
*(with Werner Hager and Günther Fiensch), ''Studien zur Kunstform''. Munster: Böhlau, 1955.
References
External links
Dictionary of Art Historians: Imdahl, Max
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imdahl, Max
1925 births
1988 deaths
German art historians
20th-century German historians
German male non-fiction writers