DOI Artikel:
Kultermann, Udo: Art History and the Twentieth Century: (the work of Meyer Schapiro)
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52445#0199
ŠTÚDIE / ARTICLES
ARS 3/2003
Art History and the Twentieth Century
(The work of Meyer Schapiro)
Udo KULTERMANN
Among the many art historians of the 20th Cen-
tury Meyer Schapiro stands out as one of the most
important. While he continues a tradition inaugurai?
ed earlier in the Century by Heinrich Wölfflin, Alois
Riegl, Erwin Panofsky and Walter Friedländer, he
transcends this tradition by creating a new link be-
tween past and present.
In his writing and teaching Meyer Schapiro
achieved a unity of art historical methods which had
earlier opposed each other, the iconology of the
school of Erwin Panofsky on one side and the form-
analytical method of Heinrich Wölfflin on the other.
His ability to combine both methods, as well as oth-
ers, allowed him to achieve a comprehensive under-
standing of the complexity of art in our time as well
as in all other times. It is because of this that Meyer
Schapiro has achieved a unique position among his-
torians of art.
Born in 1904 in Shavly, Lithuania, Meyer Scha-
piro emigrated with his family to the United States
in 1907. He grew up in Brooklyn, where he began
his art éducation, taking evening classes with the
painter John Sloan at the Hebrew Educational Soci-
ety Settlement House in Brownsville and later tak-
ing classes with Frank Mura at the Brooklyn Muse-
um. In 1920 at the age of 15 he graduated from high
school and entered Columbia College where he con-
1 EPSTEIN, Helen: Meyer Schapiro. A Passion to Know and
Make Known. In: Art News, May 1963, p. 67; Meyer Schapiro.
In: Current Biography 1984; KULTERMANN, Udo: Meyer
Schapiro et l’histoire de l’art du 20e siècle. In: Art press, 1990;
tinued to pursue his studies as a painter and art his-
torian. But the art history classes did not satisfy him,
he was much more stimulated by the books of the
English art critic and painter Roger Fry, and his class-
es with the painter Charles Martin at the Teacher’s
College of Columbia University: “I learned more
from Martin that term than in all the art history lec-
tures I had attended at Columbia College.”1 In 1924
Meyer Schapiro graduated from Columbia College
with honors in art history and philosophy.
Schapiro’s earliest art historical inspirations came
from German and Austrian art historians such as
Wilhelm Vöge, Heinrich Wölfflin, Alois Riegl and
Max Dvořák. Vöge was at that time practically un-
known outside of Germany. His books on medieval
sculpture specifically emphasized the quality of the
individual work in question and he left no stone un-
turned in his attempt to communicate his results. He
created a language so subtle and précisé that it is
nearly impossible to translate. A major American art
historian also devoted to the study of the Middle Ages
was Arthur Kingsley Porter, who also had a Strong
influence on Meyer Schapiro. Kingsley Porter was
one of the most important authorities on Romanesque
art and architecture in Europe, and was instrumental
in the foundation of geography of art.2 It was during
his formative years that Meyer Schapiro also came
KULTERMANN, Udo: Die Perspektive des Kunsthistorikers:
Meyer Schapiro. In: Kunst und Wirklichkeit. Von Fiedler bis
Dérida. Zehn Annäherungen. Zürich 1991, s. p. 176-189.
2 KULTERMANN, Udo: History ofArt History. New York 1993.
189
ARS 3/2003
Art History and the Twentieth Century
(The work of Meyer Schapiro)
Udo KULTERMANN
Among the many art historians of the 20th Cen-
tury Meyer Schapiro stands out as one of the most
important. While he continues a tradition inaugurai?
ed earlier in the Century by Heinrich Wölfflin, Alois
Riegl, Erwin Panofsky and Walter Friedländer, he
transcends this tradition by creating a new link be-
tween past and present.
In his writing and teaching Meyer Schapiro
achieved a unity of art historical methods which had
earlier opposed each other, the iconology of the
school of Erwin Panofsky on one side and the form-
analytical method of Heinrich Wölfflin on the other.
His ability to combine both methods, as well as oth-
ers, allowed him to achieve a comprehensive under-
standing of the complexity of art in our time as well
as in all other times. It is because of this that Meyer
Schapiro has achieved a unique position among his-
torians of art.
Born in 1904 in Shavly, Lithuania, Meyer Scha-
piro emigrated with his family to the United States
in 1907. He grew up in Brooklyn, where he began
his art éducation, taking evening classes with the
painter John Sloan at the Hebrew Educational Soci-
ety Settlement House in Brownsville and later tak-
ing classes with Frank Mura at the Brooklyn Muse-
um. In 1920 at the age of 15 he graduated from high
school and entered Columbia College where he con-
1 EPSTEIN, Helen: Meyer Schapiro. A Passion to Know and
Make Known. In: Art News, May 1963, p. 67; Meyer Schapiro.
In: Current Biography 1984; KULTERMANN, Udo: Meyer
Schapiro et l’histoire de l’art du 20e siècle. In: Art press, 1990;
tinued to pursue his studies as a painter and art his-
torian. But the art history classes did not satisfy him,
he was much more stimulated by the books of the
English art critic and painter Roger Fry, and his class-
es with the painter Charles Martin at the Teacher’s
College of Columbia University: “I learned more
from Martin that term than in all the art history lec-
tures I had attended at Columbia College.”1 In 1924
Meyer Schapiro graduated from Columbia College
with honors in art history and philosophy.
Schapiro’s earliest art historical inspirations came
from German and Austrian art historians such as
Wilhelm Vöge, Heinrich Wölfflin, Alois Riegl and
Max Dvořák. Vöge was at that time practically un-
known outside of Germany. His books on medieval
sculpture specifically emphasized the quality of the
individual work in question and he left no stone un-
turned in his attempt to communicate his results. He
created a language so subtle and précisé that it is
nearly impossible to translate. A major American art
historian also devoted to the study of the Middle Ages
was Arthur Kingsley Porter, who also had a Strong
influence on Meyer Schapiro. Kingsley Porter was
one of the most important authorities on Romanesque
art and architecture in Europe, and was instrumental
in the foundation of geography of art.2 It was during
his formative years that Meyer Schapiro also came
KULTERMANN, Udo: Die Perspektive des Kunsthistorikers:
Meyer Schapiro. In: Kunst und Wirklichkeit. Von Fiedler bis
Dérida. Zehn Annäherungen. Zürich 1991, s. p. 176-189.
2 KULTERMANN, Udo: History ofArt History. New York 1993.
189