Richard Offner (June 30, 1889 – August 26, 1965) was an Austrian-American art historian dedicated to the study of Florentine paintings from the

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 id ...

Biography

Offner was born in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, on June 30, 1889. In 1891, his family emigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. He pursued his undergraduate degree at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

from 1909 to 1912, continuing as a Fellow at the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo (Janiculum Hill) in Rome. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History In 1893, a group of American architects ...

from 1912 to 1914. In 1914, he submitted his dissertation in art history under Max Dvořák at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich h ...

. He was granted his Doctorate, however, his dissertation is now lost. In 1915, Offner accepted a position as an instructor of art history at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

. In 1920, he moved to Harvard as a Sachs Fellow. Offner then joined

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

as an assistant professor in 1923, advancing to full professorship in 1927. He remained at NYU for the remainder of his career, serving as head of the fine arts department from 1930 to 1933, and as an emeritus from 1954 until his retirement in 1961. Offner died in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

on August 26, 1965, aged 76. He was survived by his screenwriter brother Mortimer (who died the following month); his son Paul (a Wisconsin State Senator), and his daughter, Antonia.

Works

Offner published 12 volumes of his ''Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting'' through the

Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philos ...

at New York University. He was assisted by art historian

Klara Steinweg Klara Steinweg (1903–1972) was a German art historian, specializing in the Italian Renaissance. She was a collaborator with Richard Offner on the ''Critical and Historical Corpus of Florentine Painting'', from 1930 to 1965. Biography Klara ...

, from 1930 until 1965. Offner's photographic archive is now housed in the Department of Image Collections,

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 ...

. It was donated to the Gallery by the Institute of Fine Arts, New York, along with other scholars' collections, including: Gertrude Coor, James Stubblebine, Rudolf Meyer Reifstahl, Martin Weinberger and Henry Russell Hitchcock. The Offner Archive contains 50,000 photos, clippings, negatives, research and lecture notes. His attributions and organizational system have been preserved.

References

External links

Institute of Fine Arts, New York University Gift
to Department of Image Collections, National Gallery of Art. {{DEFAULTSORT:Offner, Richard 1889 births 1965 deaths Austrian art historians American art historians University of Vienna alumni University of Chicago faculty New York University faculty Harvard College alumni Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States