Islamic Art Historiography
Special attention is given to the first generation of Islamic Art Historians (even before this term was generally used) and their impact on the History of Islamic Art & Architecture: e.g. the researcher, travelor, collector and first director of the "Islamic Department" of the Royal Museums at Berlin (today Museum of Islamic Art of the State Museums at Berlin) Friedrich Paul Sarre (1865-1945), who's 150. anniversary in 2015 has been celebrated, as well as the genious, but also very controversal art historian Josef Strzygowski (1862-1941).
In addition, cross connections, i. e. networks that also include lesser-known names will be shown. In the course of time, a comprehensive index of first German-speaking researchers (born before 1914) from the fields of Islamic art history, architecture and archeology with biographical information, bibliographical references and pictorial material will emerge.</
Islamic Art Historians
Wilhelm (von) Bode (1845-1929)
Wilhelm (von) Bode, director-general of the Royal Museums in Berlin since 1905, had started early to collect Islamic carpets in Italy, and has written a standard work on Islamic carpet studies, which has been revised and reprinted over many decades.
Cornelius Gurlitt (1850-1938)
German Art Historian and Architect, b. 1.1.1850 in Nischwitz near Wurzen (Saxonia), d. 25.3.1938 in Dresden. 1890 Habilitation at the TH Charlottenburg, from 1893 until 1920 Professor of History of Architecture at the TH Dresden. Gurlitt has been known for his works on baroque, rococo und classcism, his works on Islamic / Ottoman Architecture are widely unknown to the public, and are not mentioned in the DBE (Deutschen Bibliographischen Enzyklopädie) at all.
Josef Strzygowski (1862-1941)
Josef Strzygowski was one of the most versatile and at the same time most controversial art historians of the first half of the 20th century. On the occasion of his 150th birthday in 2012, two major symposia were held, in spring in Biala, his birthplace (formerly Galicia, today Bielsko in Poland) and in October in Vienna, organized by the Society for Comparative Art Research, Josef Strzygowski founded in 1934.
Philipp Walter Schulz (1864-1920)
Philipp Walter Schulz, born in Leipzig in 1864, came from a wealthy family (his father was a merchant and banker), allowing him as an independent scholar (Privatgelehrter) to devote himself to the study of Islamic book art. As a result, he published a groundbreaking work on Islamic book painting titled "Die persisch-islamische Miniaturmalerei: Ein Beitrag zur Kunstgeschichte Irans" (Hirsemann, Leipzig 1914)", unfortunately the recognition of which was long denied. A small part of his former collection is still kept in two major museums in Leipzig.
Ernst Cohn-Wiener (1882-1941)
Ernst Cohn-Wiener (until 1907 Cohn), born in Tilsit in 1882, was a versatile art historian who not only dealt with European, Jewish and Islamic art history, but also researched and published on Asian art in general. In particular, his 1930 published work on the architecture of Central Asia in Islamic times is known in professional circles (Turan: Islamic architecture in Central Asia, Berlin 1930), which still has lasting value because of the numerous good photographs from the 1920s.
Schneider, Alfons Maria (1896 - 1952)
As a theologian, Christian archaeologist and Byzantinist, Alfons Maria Schneider (1896 - 1952) left behind an extensive, surprisingly broad oeuvre: for example, he excavated in the forecourt of the Hagia Sophia and was able to determine the original building, for many years he was one of the editors of the 'BZ' (Byzantinische Zeitschrift), Byzantine Journal, and made numerous contributions, he has written a monograph on Hagia Sophia - also appealing to a wider audience - and he initiated the excavations in Resafa / Rusafa in northern Syria in 1951. The latter also documents his interest in the Christian Orient, while his open-mindedness towards the Islamic culture is evident in the promotion and support of Katharina Otto-Dorn (1908-1999).
Only very few photos of him are known so far; now an unknown one depicting him in the ruins of the Byzantine palace of Qasr ibn Wardan (6th century CE) in northern Syria taken in 1951 can be published here for the first time.
Katharina Otto-Dorn (1908-1999)
Katharina Otto-Dorn (b. Käthe Dorn) stood in direct succession of the founding generation of Islamic Art History, scholars and researchers as Friedrich Sarre (1865-1945) and Josef Strzygowski (1862-1941), her supervisor in Vienna, where she was awarded with a doctorate (dissertation thesis on Sassanian Silverware in 1933).