1st Edition

Millard Meiss, American Art History, and Conservation From Connoisseurship to Iconology and Kulturgeschichte

By Jennifer Cooke Copyright 2021
    240 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    240 Pages 11 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    A member of the art history generation from the golden age of the 1920s and 1930s, Millard Meiss (1904–1975) developed a new and multi-faceted methodological approach.

    This book lays the foundation for a reassessment of this key figure in post-war American and international art history. The book analyses his work alongside that of contemporary art historians, considering both those who influenced him and those who were receptive to his research. Jennifer Cooke uses extensive archival material to give Meiss the critical consideration that his extensive and important art historical, restoration and conservation work deserves.

    This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, historiography and heritage management and conservation.

    Introduction

    1. Two Generations of American Connoisseurs

    2. The Far Side of the Moon: Erwin Panofsky’s Iconology

    3. Kulturgeschichte or Social History of Art?

    4. The Technical Study of Art

    5. Italian "Meiss-Fortunes"

    Biography

    Jennifer Cooke is a researcher in History of Art Criticism and Museum Studies at the University of Turin.

    "Cooke presents an incisive and scrupulously referenced evaluation of Meiss’s art-historical writing, which incorporates the fruit of her archival research in his extensive personal correspondence with many other noted art historians, heritage superintendents and art conservators."

    --Journal of Art Historiography