Karl Katz (October 22, 1929 - November 8, 2017) (also Carl Katz) was an art historian, curator and museum director. Katz was director of the

Bezalel National Museum In Exodus 31:1-6 and chapters 36 to 39, Bezalel, Bezaleel, or Betzalel (, ''Bəṣalʼēl''), was the chief artisan of the Tabernacle and was in charge of building the Ark of the Covenant, assisted by Oholiab. The section in chapter 31 descr ...

- which later became The

Israel Museum The Israel Museum (, ''Muze'on Yisrael'', ) is an Art museum, art and archaeology museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world's leading Encyclopedic museum, encyclopa ...

in Jerusalem. He also held positions at the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. Notable Jewish museums include: Albania * Solomon Museum, Berat Australia * Jewish Museum of Australia, Melbourn ...

and the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

Biography

Karl Katz was born in 1929. His parents were Maurice Katz and Rose (née Lefkowitz). He graduated from

Midwood High School Midwood High School is a high school located at 2839 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, New York City, administered by the New York City Department of Education. It has an enrollment of 3,938 students. Its H-shaped building, with six Ionic order, Ioni ...

in Brooklyn and then began studying at

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university in Brooklyn and Brookville, New York, United States. The university enrolls over 16,000 students and offers over 500 academic programs at its main campuses, LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post on Long I ...

, but soon moved to

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. There he completed a bachelor's degree in art history and Semitic studies and a master's degree in art history and archaeology. He finished his Doctoral dissertation on early Hebrew texts from Yemen, but he failed to do the doctorate because he did not fulfill the prerequisites for the required language skills. He refused to learn German so soon after the Holocaust. One of his mentors who greatly influenced the path he took was

Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro (23 September 1904 – 3 March 1996) was a Lithuanian-born American art historian who developed new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works. An expert on early Christian, ...

. Katz was married to Elizabeth Segal, whom he married in 1978. The couple had a son, Jonathan. Bezalel museum stuff

Art career

Katz worked in 1953 as an art educator during the exhibition "From the Land of the Bible" at the

Metropolitan Museum The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the third-largest museum in the world and the largest art museum in the Americas. With 5.36 million v ...

. He then joined the Bezalel National Museum as a curator, a forerunner of the Israel Museum. In 1969 he returned to New York and became director of the

. In 1971 he went to the Metropolitan Museum as head of the Department of Special Projects. In 1980 he became head of the department he created for film and television. He was also one of the planners of

The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

. In 1992 he founded "Muse", a non-profit company for documentaries in the field of art. In the early 1970s, Katz met the photographer

Cornell Capa Cornell Capa (; born Kornél Friedmann; April 10, 1918 – May 23, 2008) was a Hungarian-American photographer, member of Magnum Photos, photo curator, and the younger brother of photo-journalist and war photographer Robert Capa. Graduating fr ...

in an exhibition and persuaded him to put his International Center of Photography into a museum. It opened in 1974. For many years Katz was the deputy chairman of the museum curatorium.

Publications (selection)

* Yehiel Shemi. Bezalel National Museum, Jerusalem 1957 * Modern Israel Painting. London 1958 * with Penuel Kahane, Magen Broshi: From the beginning: four millennia Holy Land in the most modern museum in the world. Hoffmann and Campe, Hamburg 1968 * The exhibitionist: living museum, loving museum. Overlook Press, New York 2016Renee Ghert-Zand, Unabashed ‘Exhibitionist’s new memoir unveils his days and nights in the museu

The Times of Israel, 12 March 2017

Filmography (selection)

* 1983: La Belle Epoque (1890-1914) * 1984: In a Brilliant Light: Van Gogh in Arles * 1989: Merchants and Masterpieces * 1990: Frederick Law Olmsted and the Public Park of America * 1992: Art on Film, Program 1: Balance * 1992: Art on Film, Program 2: Sense * 1992: Art on Film, Program 3: Form * 1992: Art on Film, Program 4: Voice * 1992: Art on Film, Program 5: Subject & Expert * 1993: Degenerate Art * 1997: Tashilham * 1998: Chuck Close: A Portrait in Progress * 2003: Hans Hofmann: Artist / Teacher, Teacher / Artist * 2006: Who Gets to Call It Art? * 2007: The Rich Their Own Photographers * 2007: Robert Indiana: American Dreamer * 2008: Herb & Dorothy * 2012: Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry

References

External links

* * Sam Roberts: Karl Katz, Museum Director in New York and Israel, Dies at 88, New York Times, November 10, 201
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Katz, Karl 1929 births Israeli art historians American art historians American emigrants to Israel Film producers from New York City Directors of museums in the United States 2017 deaths Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni