John B Onians, FSA (born 1942) is

Professor Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of World Art at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

and specialised in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

, especially the architectural theory of the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

; painting, sculpture and architecture in Ancient Greece and Rome;

Byzantine art Byzantine art comprises the body of Christian Greek artistic products of the Eastern Roman Empire, as well as the nations and states that inherited culturally from the empire. Though the empire itself emerged from the decline of Rome and lasted u ...

material culture Material culture is the aspect of social reality grounded in the objects and architecture that surround people. It includes the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of objects as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals that the objects crea ...

metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...

and thought;

perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

and

cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, though ...

, and the biological basis of art. His recent work has been instrumental in the establishment of Neuroarthistory as a distinct set of methodologies.

Early life and education

Onians is the son of the distinguished classicist, Richard Broxton Onians and Rosalind Lathbury. He is a graduate of the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

, and of the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

and

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cro ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degr ...

. His PhD on Italian architectural theory and practice was supervised by

Ernst Gombrich Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich (; ; 30 March 1909 – 3 November 2001) was an Austrian-born art historian who, after settling in England in 1936, became a naturalised British citizen in 1947 and spent most of his working life in the United Ki ...

. He also received a postgraduate diploma in the History of European Art from London University.

Career

Onians was Founder Editor of the journal ''Art History'' in 1978. He was professor of Visual Arts and Director of the World Art Research Programme at the

from 1971 until his retirement in 2007 where he was instrumental in the development of the Art History department, and the creation of the School of World Art Studies and Museology. In 1997-99 he established the division of Research and Academic Programs at the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown Mass. He has been a fellow of the Centre for Advanced Study in the History of Art at the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

, Washington, D.C. and at the Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin, the William Evans Fellow at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate ...

, New Zealand, and a Scholar at the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

. He has authored a number of books, ''Art and the Thought in the Hellenistic Age'', ''Bearers of Meaning'', for which he was awarded the Sir Bannister Fletcher Prize, ''Classical Art and the Cultures of Greece and Rome'', ''Art, culture and nature: from art history to world art studies,'' ''Neuroarthistory: From Aristotle and Pliny to Baxandall and Zeki'' and, most recently, ''European Art: A Neuroarthistory.'' He has edited ''Sight and Insight'', ''Atlas of World Art'', ''Compression Vs. Expression,'' and ''The Art Atlas''. Onians has been discussed in books such as Art History and its Methods (1995) and Raising the Eyebrow (2002). His photographic work also features in the

Conway Library The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist c ...

, whose archive of primarily architectural images is being digitised under the wider Courtauld Connects project.

References

External links

Prof John Onians, webpage
at

Interviews of John Onians
at

Association of Art Historians The Association for Art History (AAH) (formerly Association of Art Historians) promotes the professional practice and public understanding of art history.

(AAH) {{DEFAULTSORT:Onians, John 1942 births Living people Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Alumni of the Warburg Institute Academics of the University of East Anglia British art historians British architectural historians British magazine editors Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London