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Paul Frankl (22 April 1878 – 30 January 1962) was an art historian born in
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...
. Frankl is most known for his writings on the history and principles of architecture, which he famously presented within a
Gestalt Gestalt may refer to: Psychology * Gestalt psychology, a school of psychology * Gestalt therapy Gestalt therapy is a form of psychotherapy that emphasizes Responsibility assumption, personal responsibility and focuses on the individual's exp ...
-oriented framework.


Early education and career

Paul Frankl was born in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
into the prominent rabbinic Spira-Frankl family. From 1888 to 1896, he attended a German Gymnasium, after which he enrolled in the German Staats-Obergymnasium of Prague, graduating in 1896. He served for one year as Lieutenant in the Austrian military. In order to pursue a degree in higher education, he converted to Catholicism, a move that was not uncommon among non-Catholics during this era. He matriculated to the Technische Hochschule in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
and, later,
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
, and graduated with a degree in architecture in 1904."Frankl, Paul"
''Dictionary of Art Historians. A Biographical Dictionary of Historic Scholars, Museum Professionals and Academic Historians of Art.''
While in Berlin, Frankl fostered social relationships within circles of philosophers and artists whose members included fellow Pragueian
Max Wertheimer Max Wertheimer (; April 15, 1880 – October 12, 1943) was a psychologist who was one of the three founders of Gestalt psychology, along with Kurt Koffka and Wolfgang Köhler. He is known for his book ''Productive Thinking'' and for conceiving the ...
, who knew Käthe Kollwitz. These artists and philosophers not only introduced Frankl to new systems of thinking, such as
Gestalt psychology Gestalt psychology, gestaltism, or configurationism is a school of psychology and a theory of perception that emphasises the processing of entire patterns and configurations, and not merely individual components. It emerged in the early twent ...
, but also to his future wife, the artist and musician, Elsa Herzberg, who shared a studio with Käthe Kollwitz. Frankl and Herzberg eventually had five children. In 1908, Frankl left his work as an architect to study philosophy, history, and art history at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich under
Heinrich Wölfflin Heinrich Wölfflin (; 21 June 1864 – 19 July 1945) was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles (" painterly" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of formal analysis in ...
and Berthold Riehl, the founder of the Institut für Kunstgeschichte. Riehl supervised Frankl's doctoral dissertation on fifteenth-century glass painting in southern Germany. After the completion of his dissertation in 1910, Frankl worked as Wölfflin's assistant and wrote his ''Habilitationsschrift'', which offered a systematic definition of the formal principles of architecture from the Renaissance onwards.Paul Crossley. "Frankl, Paul". Oxford Art Online Frankl was heavily influenced by Wölfflin's understanding of architectural development, but did not adhere to Wölfflin's views on formalism. From 1914 to 1920, Frankl held a position as privatdozent, which enabled him to teach at the University of Munich while contributing to the ''Handbuch der Kunstwissenschaft'' (ed. Albert Brinckmann and Fritz Burger). In 1914, Frankl wrote his first theoretical work, ''Die Entwicklungsphasen der neueren Baukunst'' (1914). ''Die Entwicklungsphasen'' proposes four major categories of art history analysis - spatial composition, treatment of mass and surface, treatment of optical effects, and the relation of design to social function - that Frankl continued to draw upon in his later work. Frankl held an assistant professorship at the
Ludwig Maximilian 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 ...
from 1920 to 1921, after which he became full professor at Halle University. It was here that Frankl initiated his lifelong interest in medieval architecture. His study, ''Die frühmittelalterliche und romanische Baukunst'' (1926) exemplifies his categorical distinctions between Romanesque and Gothic architecture - the former being "additive", "frontal", and "structural" while the latter is "partial", "diagonal", and "textural". In 1933, Frankl's enthusiasm for medieval architecture led him to join a group of medievalists at the 13th International Congress of the History of Art in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
to view the only gothic church whose original wooden arch scaffolding was still extant. The Nazis terminated Frankl's position in Halle in 1934. Upon leaving the university, Frankl returned to Munich and wrote his monumental treatise, ''Das System der Kunstwissenschaft'' (1938), which offered a comprehensive history of art grounded in phenomenology and morphology. ''Das System'' was issued in Czechoslovakia since Jewish authors were censored in Germany and Austria. During this time, Frankl also made a brief trip to
Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...
.


Transitions to the United States, 1934-1947

Frankl traveled to the United States in 1938, where he sought work and refuge from Nazi power. Although he was fluent in seven languages, English was not his strength. In spite of this, Frankl taught for a short time at a volunteer seminar that
Julius S. Held Julius Samuel Held (1905–2002) was an art historian, collector, and expert on Dutch painters Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Rembrandt. He published several monographs and was a professor of art history at Barnard College, Columbia ...
organized. After six months, Frankl's visa expired and he became desperately ill. In order to apply for US citizenship, he sailed to Cuba – so as to step on "foreign" soil – and reentered the United States as an immigrant. In 1939, with the assistance of Max Wertheimer, Paul Oskar Kristeller, and
Erwin Panofsky Erwin Panofsky (March 30, 1892 – March 14, 1968) was a German-Jewish art historian whose work represents a high point in the modern academic study of iconography, including his hugely influential ''Renaissance and Renascences in Western Art ...
, Frankl received a position as art historian at the Institute of Advanced Study at Princeton University. The Institute was under the direction of Frank Aydelotte at that time. In 1949, Frankl received a tenure appointment, which he held until his death.''The Institute of Advanced Study: Publications of Members 1930-1954'' (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 1955) Four days after
Kristallnacht ( ) or the Night of Broken Glass, also called the November pogrom(s) (, ), was a pogrom against Jews carried out by the Nazi Party's (SA) and (SS) paramilitary forces along with some participation from the Hitler Youth and German civilia ...
, Frankl's wife, Elsa, and daughter, Susanne, fled to Denmark from Munich. Because Elsa's son, Wolfgang, was in England, six months after entering Denmark, Elsa was allowed to enter England as well. Upon coming to England, she was interned as an "
enemy alien In customary international law, an enemy alien is any alien native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secur ...
" on the Isle of Man. Wolfgang had left Germany in 1933 to live in Rome, but the increased Fascist threat prompted him to seek safety in England. When Wolfgang first came to England, he was interned as an "enemy alien". However, since Wolfgang was an architect, he was allowed to live in an apartment with the caveat that if he wandered more than 5 miles from the apartment, he had to inform the authorities. He helped to design buildings during the rebuilding of London after the Blitz. Susanne escaped to Sweden with the Danish boat-saving rescue venture (
Rescue of the Danish Jews The Danish resistance movement, with the assistance of many Danish citizens, managed to evacuate 7,500 of Denmark's 8,000 Jews, plus 686 non-Jewish spouses, by sea to nearby Sweden during World War II, neutral Sweden during the Second World War. ...
) after the Nazis started their attempt at rounding up the Jews. Another daughter, Johanna, survived the war in Berlin with protected status with her non-Jewish husband. Frankl’s youngest daughter, Regula, followed soon after Frankl to the US. Since she was still a minor, she was allowed to stay in the US without renewing her visa. She went to Radcliffe under a special program for German refugees. As a personal response to the plight of the Jewish people and his family, Frankl joined a committee at Princeton that sought to hypothesize a world government system that would ensure that racial genocide could never happen again. Among the committee's members numbered
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
. During this period, Frankl wrote a book called ''Welt Regierung'' (1948), his own thoughts on a system of world government.


Later life and career, 1947-1962

Frankl returned to Europe in 1947 with the support of a Guggenheim Grant. For two years, Frankl studied European cathedrals and taught at European universities. After returning to the United States, he wrote ''The Gothic: Literary Sources and Interpretations through Eight Centuries'' (1960) and ''Gothic Architecture'' (1962), which he completed the day of his death. These works revealed Wölfflin's continued influence on Frankl, who applied his former advisor's ideas of architectural style while supplementing his study with an analysis of social function and religious significance.


Legacy

Frankl's work on spatial analysis influenced many German architectural historians such as Siegfried Giedion and Nikolaus Pevsner. It is possible that the work of Frankl's pupil, Richard Krautheimer, owes something to Frankl's writings on architectural function and significance. Frankl is responsible for creating the term "akyrism," which connotes the changing contexts and meanings of art. Materials relating to Frankl's life and work are currently held at the Leo Baeck Institute in NY, USA, and the Exil Literatur Archive in Frankfurt, Germany.


Writings

* ''Die Glasmalerei des fünfzehnten Jahrhunderts in Bayern und Schwaben'' (Strasbourg, 1912) * ''Die Entwicklungsphasen der neueren Baukunst'' (Leipzig and Berlin, 1914) (See English translation, ''The Principles of Architectural History: The Four Phases of Architectural Style, 1420–1900'' (Cambridge, MA, and London, 1968, 1973)). * ''Die frühmittelalterliche und romanische Baukunst'' (Potsdam, 1926) * ''Das System der Kunstwissenschaft'' (Brno, 1938) * ''Weltregierung'' (1948) * ''Kistenfiger'' (1956) * Theobald von Lixheim (1957 Zeit Schrift) * ''The Gothic: Literary Sources and Interpretations through Eight Centuries'' (Princeton, 1960) * Kunst Chronik (1961 Hemmel) * "Boucher's Girl on the Couch" (1961) * ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' article on Gothic Architecture (1962) * "Roundel in Boston" (1962) * ''Gothic Architecture'', Pelican Hist. A. (Harmondsworth, 1962) * ''Zu Fragen des Stils'' (Leipzig 1988)


References


Further reading

* R. Krautheimer: Obituary, A. J. ew York xxii/1 (1962), p. 167 * Obituary, Wallraf-Richartz-Jb., xxiv (1962), pp. 7–14 * D. Porphyrios: ''On the Methodology of Architectural History'' (London, 1981) * Gerhard Sonnert and Gerald Holton, "The Grand Wake for Harvard Indifference" in ''Harvard Magazine'' September–October 2006


External links


Profile at Institute for Advanced Study
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankl, Paul 1878 births 1962 deaths German art historians German architectural historians Writers from Prague Princeton University faculty Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States Academic staff of the University of Halle German male non-fiction writers