Joseph Gantner (Baden, Canton Aargau, Switzerland 11 September 1896—Basel 7 April 1988) was a Swiss art historian. His father Alfred Gantner, a manager at

Brown Boveri Brown, Boveri & Cie. (Brown, Boveri & Company; BBC) was a Swiss group of electrical engineering companies. It was founded in Zürich, in 1891 by Charles Eugene Lancelot Brown and Walter Boveri who worked at the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon. In 1970 ...

, and his wife Marie (née Wächter), a midwife. In 1932 Joseph Gantner married Maria Hanna Dreyfus. Gantner's studies took him to the universities at Zurich,

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, and finally to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, where he completed a doctorate in 1920 under

Heinrich Wölfflin Heinrich Wölfflin (; 21 June 1864 – 19 July 1945) was a Swiss art historian, esthetician and educator, whose objective classifying principles ("painterly" vs. "linear" and the like) were influential in the development of formal analysis in a ...

(1864–1945). He also spent a semester in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

with

Adolfo Venturi Adolfo Venturi (3 September 1856, Modena – 10 June 1941, Santa Margherita Ligure) was an Italian art historian. His son, Lionello Venturi, was also an art historian. Biography He received his education in Modena and Florence, and in 1878 ...

. His ''

Habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in many European countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excellence in research, teaching and further education, usually including a ...

sschrift'' was completed in 1926. From 1922 or 1923 to 1927 he was Editor of the periodical ''Das Werk'' and later also of ''Das neue Frankfurt''. From 1927 until 1932 Gantner taught at the ''Kunstschule'' in Frankfurt-am-Main. He returned to Switzerland in 1933 when the Nazi menace began to increase. From 1926–28 and then again from 1933–38, he worked on a second Ph. D. from the University of Zurich. In 1938 at the age of 42 he was appointed Professor of Art History at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis'', German: ''Universität Basel'') is a university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest surviving universit ...

, and remained there until retirement in 1967. In 1954 he became

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the University and that same year became a member of the Basel Art Museum Commission. He founded the ''Basler Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte'' in 1943, and edited the ''Zeitschrift für Ästhetik und allgemeine Kunstwissenschaft'' from 1952 together with

Heinrich Lützeler Heinrich Lützeler (27 January 1902 in Bonn – 13 June 1988 in Bonn) was a German philosopher, art historian, and literary scholar. He presided over a number of institutes and was dean at the department of philosophy at the University of Bonn. Bi ...

."Gantner, Joseph", ''Dictionary of Art Historians''. His portrait was painted by

Augusto Giacometti Augusto Giacometti (16 August 1877 – 9 June 1947) was a Swiss painter from Stampa, Graubünden, cousin of Giovanni Giacometti who was the father of Alberto, Diego and Bruno Giacometti. He was a prominent as a painter in the Art Nouveau an ...

, a second cousin of

Alberto Giacometti Alberto Giacometti (, , ; 10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker. Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and ...

, and is now in the possession of his daughter Vera.

Notes

References

*Death notice, ''

Neue Zürcher Zeitung The ''Neue Zürcher Zeitung'' (''NZZ''; "New Journal of Zürich") is a Swiss, German-language daily newspaper, published by NZZ Mediengruppe in Zürich. The paper was founded in 1780. It was described as having a reputation as a high-quality ne ...

, 9.4.1988 *Obituary, ''

, 15.4.88 *Reiner Haussherr, obituary, in ''Jahrbuch. Mainz Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur'', 1991, pp. 108–112 *Caviezel-Rüegg, Zita:
Gantner, Joseph
''

Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz The ''Historical Dictionary of Switzerland'' is an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland that aims to take into account the results of modern historical research in a manner accessible to a broader audience. The encyclopedia is publish ...

'' (online edition)
Gantner, Joseph
, ''Dictionary of Art Historians'' (accessed 10 January 2010) *Susan R. Henderson, "Building Culture: Ernst May and the New Frankfurt Initiative, 1926-1931" (Peter Lang, 2013). *A full bibliography of his works can be found in J. Gantner: ''"Das Bild des Herzens": über Vollendung und Un-Vollendung in der Kunst. Reden und Aufsätze'' Berlin: Gebr. Mann, 1979. () {{DEFAULTSORT:Gantner, Joseph 1896 births 1988 deaths Swiss art historians