Heinrich wölfflin

Widely influential professor of art history, major exponent of formalist methodology. He initially studied philosophy at the university in Basel under Johannes Volkelt , but the lectures of cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt developed in him an enthusiasm for art history. He moved to Munich, where his father had an appointment, continuing to study philosophy and art history.

The two years after his dissertation were spent in Italy, resulting in his habilitationschrift and first book, Renaissance und Barock In he returned to Basel to succeed his mentor, Burckhardt. It was during this time that he wrote Klassische Kunst which was to become one of his most popular books. Students to his lectures in Berlin included E.

Others who heard his courses included the theorist Walter Benjamin. The second, Gedanken zur Kunstgeschichte Thoughts on Art History , selected essays, were collected as war consumed most of Europe. The anonymous review of the English edition of Klassische Kunst in the Athenaeum , written by the British art historian Roger Fry , shows the enthusiasm with which his books were received.

Many of the students who received their Ph. Some of his Ph. As a systematizer, he looked for a framework integrating empirical, psychological and visual elements.

Heinrich Wölfflin was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles were influential in the development of formal.

Art was a visual language, an independent mode of knowledge. Throughout his writings, he used comparison to demonstrate polarities in art. This technique remains a mainstay of art history classroom pedagogy. Lee Sorensen.