Max Imdahl (September 6, 1925 – October 11, 1988) was a German

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 ...

specialized in art historical methodology and the interpretation of modern art after World War II. He was born in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

and died in

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

Life and work

Imdahl studied studio painting, art history, archaeology and

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, 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 ...

at the

University of Münster The University of Münster (, until 2023 , 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 study in 15 departments, it is Germany's ...

. 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 lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, 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 Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

sschrift on Ottonian Art in 1961. In 1965, he was appointed professor of art history at the newly founded Ruhr Universität Bochum, 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 bri ...

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 aggregate bound together with a fluid cement that cures to a solid over time. It is the second-most-used substance (after water), the most–widely used building material, and the most-manufactur ...

(object-free) Western Art. In contrast, he found support for his ideas among philosophers and Catholic theologians.

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

Life and work

Further reading

Select publications

References

External links