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Josef Rudolph Thomas Strzygowski (March 7, 1862 – January 2, 1941) was a Polish-Austrian
art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...
known for his theories promoting influences from the art of the Near East on European art, for example that of Early Christian
Armenian architecture Armenian architecture comprises architectural works with an aesthetic or historical connection to the Armenians, Armenian people. It is difficult to situate this architectural style within precise geographical or chronological limits, but many o ...
on the early Medieval architecture of Europe, outlined in his book, . He is considered a member of the
Vienna School of Art History The Vienna School of Art History () was the development of fundamental art-historical methods at the University of Vienna. This school was not actually a dogmatically unified group, but rather an intellectual evolution extending over a number of g ...
.


Early life

Strzygowski was born in Biala,
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also known as Austrian Galicia or colloquially Austrian Poland, was a constituent possession of the Habsburg monarchy in the historical region of Galicia (Eastern Europe), Galicia in Eastern Europe. The Cr ...
(today part of
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
). His mother, Edle Trass von Friedelfeldt, was from minor nobility and his father was a cloth manufacturer. Strzygowski initially intended to pursue the same trade, beginning an apprenticeship in a weaving plant in 1880, however, in 1882 he abandoned this career and enrolled at the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
. He soon transferred to the
University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
, where he studied
art history Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...
and completed a dissertation on the
iconography Iconography, as a branch of art history, studies the identification, description and interpretation of the content of images: the subjects depicted, the particular compositions and details used to do so, and other elements that are distinct fro ...
of the Baptism of Christ, published in 1885 as .


Travels

For the next three years Strzygowski lived in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, where he completed a study of ''Cimabue und Rom'' (1887) (''
Cimabue Giovanni Cimabue ( , ; – 1302), Translated with an introduction and notes by J.C. and P Bondanella. Oxford: Oxford University Press (Oxford World's Classics), 1991, pp. 7–14. . also known as Cenni di Pepo or Cenni di Pepi, was an Italian p ...
and Rome''), which emphasized the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...
sources of the Italian painter's work. Late in life he stated that this work led to the question which would define all of his subsequent scholarship: "What is Rome, what, in reality, is Italian and European art?" Following his Roman sojourn, Strzygowski travelled to
Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; ), also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, Salonika, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece (with slightly over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area) and the capital cit ...
,
Mount Athos Mount Athos (; ) is a mountain on the Athos peninsula in northeastern Greece directly on the Aegean Sea. It is an important center of Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox monasticism. The mountain and most of the Athos peninsula are governed ...
,
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, and
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, thus developing a greater acquaintance with Byzantine and Russian art. In 1892 he was appointed to the faculty of the
University of Graz The University of Graz (, formerly: ''Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz'') is a public university, public research university located in Graz, Austria. It is the largest and oldest university in Styria, as well as the second-largest and second-old ...
, but in 1894 and 1895, he lived in
Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...
, where he studied the early Byzantine and
Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslims, Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across ...
of
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
, and compiled a catalogue of the
Coptic art Coptic art is the Christianity, Christian art of the Byzantine empire, Byzantine-Roman Egypt, Greco-Roman Egypt and of Coptic Orthodox Church, Coptic Christian Churches. Coptic art is best known for its wall-paintings, textiles, illuminated ma ...
in the
Cairo Museum The Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, commonly known as the Egyptian Museum (, Egyptian Arabic: ) (also called the Cairo Museum), located in Cairo, Egypt, houses the largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world. It houses over 120, ...
. Upon his return he entered a period of intense scholarly activity, publishing numerous articles on Byzantine and Islamic art, fields in which he considered himself to be the pioneer.


Polemics and conflict

It was in the midst of this activity that Strzygowski published his first polemical work, (1901; 'The Orient or Rome: contributions to the history of late antique and early Christian art'). Drawing on such diverse materials as Palmyrene art and sculpture, Anatolian sarcophagi, late antique ivories from Egypt, and Coptic textiles, Strzygowski argued, in overtly racial and often racist terms, that style change in late antiquity was the product of an overwhelming "Oriental" or "Semitic" influence. In one modern characterization of both the argument and its rhetorical tone, "Strzygowski resentedHellas as a beautiful maiden who sold herself to an 'Old Semite' to be kept as the jewel of his harem." was explicitly framed as an attack on (1895), by the Viennese art historian Franz Wickhoff, which had posited a Roman origin for the
late antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...
style, a thesis that was pursued further by
Alois Riegl Alois Riegl (14 January 1858 – 17 June 1905) was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient academic discipl ...
in his , which also appeared in 1901. The ensuing controversy continued for decades and, if it resulted in no clear resolution, significantly raised the prominence of late antique art as an academic field of study.


Later career

In the early 1900s Strzygowski was invited by Wilhelm von Bode to Germany to assist with the expansion of the Byzantine and other collections in Berlin museums. In 1909, however, upon Wickhoff's death, Strzygowski was appointed as his successor at the University of Vienna, partly as a result of the breadth of his research, and partly as a result of intricate academic politics and (possibly) the advocacy of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. His appointment resulted in an enduring schism among Viennese art historians, pitting Strzygowski against Max Dvořák and
Julius von Schlosser Julius Alwin Franz Georg Andreas Ritter von Schlosser (23 September 1866, Vienna – 1 December 1938, Vienna) was an Austrian art historian and an important member of the Vienna School of Art History. According to Ernst Gombrich, he was "One of th ...
, which was exacerbated when Strzygowski established his own research institute within the university (the or ). In
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
Strzygowski continued to publish on a variety of topics, focusing particularly on the arts of Byzantium and Islam, but also treating
Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
n, Norse, and Slavic subjects, among others. He also gave frequent and well-attended public lectures to audiences "consisting partly, but not solely, of radical pan-German students and sycophants." Strzygowski's own radical pan-Germanism had already become clear in his popular (1907) ('The visual art of the future'), in which he praised the painting of
Arnold Böcklin Arnold Böcklin (16 October 182716 January 1901) was a Swiss Symbolism (arts), Symbolist Painting, painter. His five versions of the ''Isle of the Dead (painting), Isle of the Dead'' inspired works by several late-Romantic composers. Biography ...
and called for a new German artist-hero to reject the heritage of classical antiquity and the Renaissance. It would not be possible to summarise all of the theses advanced by Strzygowski in the course of his career. Brief mention may be made of his controversy with Ernst Herzfeld over the origins of the Mshatta facade, in which Herzfeld's position was eventually proven to be correct; and his two-volume (1918) ('The architecture of the Armenians and Europe'), in which he claimed to have traced the origins of
Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...
to Armenia. Strzygowski retired from the University of Vienna in 1933, but in 1934 founded the ('Society for comparative art history') to serve as a platform for his theories. "In the final years, Strzygowski embraced the Nazi sentiments of racism and nationalism, although these appeared to be more the logical conclusion of his earlier theories than any attempt to court the political authorities." He died in 1941 in Vienna.


Legacy

In general Strzygowski's work was characterized by a reliance on formal comparisons at the expense of historical context, and by a pervasive exaltation of the peoples of the "North" and "East", with an attendant disdain for "Mediterranean" culture. If Strzygowski's erratic methodology have largely discredited his own scholarship, his breadth of geographical interest helped to establish Islamic art, (something which, incidentally, Ernst Gombrich denied in his conversations with Didier Eribon), and Jewish art as legitimate fields of study. Certain of his students (most notably Otto Demus, Fritz Novotny, and Ernst Diez) were successfully able to pursue these interests without subscribing to their teacher's ideology.


Selected works

* (with contributions by
John Winter Crowfoot John Winter Crowfoot CBE (28 July 1873 – 6 December 1959) was a British educational administrator and archaeologist. He worked for 25 years in Egypt and Sudan, serving from 1914 to 1926 as Director of Education in the Sudan, before accepting a ...
and J. I. Smirnov), Leipzig 1903


References


Further reading

* Bazin, Germain. (1986). . Paris: Albin Michel. pp. 155, 165–171 * Diez, Ernst (1947). "Josef Strzygowski, Biographisches". bituary''Felsefi Arkivi'' (Istanbul) 2 (1): 13–25 * Kleinbauer, W. Eugene (1971). ''Modern Perspectives in Western Art History: An Anthology of 20th-Century Writings on the Visual Arts''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 23 * Lachnit, Edwin. "Josef Strzygowski." ''The Dictionary of Art''. 29: 795–796 * Leonelli, F. (2020)
"Josef Strzygowski (1861–1942), Dmitry Ainalov (1862–1939) and the Question of Geographical Borders in the Theory of Art: The Possibility of a «Geographic Eye»"
In A. V. Zakharova; S. V. Maltseva; E. Iu. Staniukovich-Denisova. (eds.). ''Actual Problems of Theory and History of Art: Collection of articles''. vol. 10. Moscow: Lomonosov Moscow State University; St. Petersburg: NP-Print. pp. 609–617 * Maranci, Christina (2000). ''Medieval Armenian Architecture: Constructions of Race and Nation''. Sterling, VA (US); Louvain, Belgium: Peeters. * Maranci, Christina. (1998). ''Medieval Armenian Architecture in Historiography: Josef Strzygowski and his Legacy''. issertationPrinceton University. pp. 89–99 * Marquand, Allan (July 1910). "Strzygowski and his Theory of Early Christian Art." ''Harvard Theological Review''. 3 (3): 357–365 * . Stuttgart: Metzler. 1999. pp. 400–403 * Olin, Margaret (2000). "Art History and Ideology: Alois Riegl and Josef Strzygowski". In Penny Schein Gold and Benjamin C. Sax (eds.) ''Cultural Visions: Essays on the History of Culture''. Amsterdam: Rodopi. pp. 151-172 * Watkin, David (1980)
''The Rise of Architectural History''
London: Architectural Press p
91
* Wharton, Annabel (1995). "The Scholarly Frame: Orientalism and the Construction of Late Ancient Art History". (Chapter 1). ''Refiguring the Post Classical City: Dura Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna''. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–14. * Zäh, Alexander (2020). "Strzygowski, Josef, Kunsthistoriker". ''Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon''. vol. XLI. pp. 1239–1246.


External links


''Gesellschaft für vergleichende Kunstforschung''
('Society for Comparative Art Studies') website (in German) {{DEFAULTSORT:Strzygowski, Josef 1862 births 1941 deaths People from Biała People from Austrian Silesia 19th-century Austrian people 20th-century Austrian people Austrian art historians Austrian architectural historians Historians of Islamic art Austrian people of Polish descent Armenian studies scholars Corresponding Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America Historians of Byzantine art Explorers of West Asia Historians from Austria-Hungary