Max Kunze (born 26 October 1944 in Schotten) is a German classical

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

Life

Max Kunze studied

Classical archaeology Classical archaeology is the archaeological investigation of the Mediterranean civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Nineteenth-century archaeologists such as Heinrich Schliemann were drawn to study the societies they had read about i ...

and

classical philology Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

at the

Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative o ...

(HU), between 1964 and 1969. After this he was employed until 1971 as an academic member of the Münzkabinett Berlin. In 1974 he gained a doctorate from Humboldt University for his thesis on classicising Roman

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

sculpture. From 1969 until 1982 he was director of the Winckelmann Museum in Stendal and secretary of the Winckelmann Society, from 1978 to 1990 he was managing director of the society. From 1982 to 1993 he was Director of the East Berlin

Antikensammlung The Antikensammlung Berlin (Berlin antiquities collection) is one of the most important collections of classical art in the world, now held in the Altes Museum and Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany. It contains thousands of ancient archaeological ...

of the Berlin City Museums. He wrote several guides and introductions for the collections at the

Pergamonmuseum The Pergamon Museum (; ) is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1910 to 1930 by order of German Emperor Wilhelm II according to plans by Alfred Messel and Ludwig Hoffmann in Stripped Clas ...

. From 1990 he has been President of the Winckelmann Society. In 1992 he was Adjunct Professor at the

Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

and in 1993/4 he had a research project at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

in New York. He was a lecturer at Akdeniz University (

Antalya Antalya () is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, fifth-most populous city in Turkey as well as the capital of Antalya Province. Located on Anatolia's southwest coast bordered by the Taurus Mountains, Antalya is the largest Turkish cit ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

). In 1996 he was habilitated by the

University of Mannheim The University of Mannheim (German: ''Universität Mannheim''), abbreviated UMA, is a public research university in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Founded in 1967, the university has its origins in the ''Palatine Academy of Sciences'', ...

, where he has been an

Honorary professor Honorary titles (professor, reader, lecturer) in academia may be conferred on persons in recognition of contributions by a non-employee or by an employee beyond regular duties. This practice primarily exists in the UK and Germany, as well as in m ...

since 2001. He is head of the project for the historical and critical publication of Winckelmann's writings at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

. Since 1990 he has been the editor of the ''Schriften der Winckelmann-Gesellschaft'' (Writings of the Winckelmann Society), as well as founder and editor of ''Akzidenzen. Flugblätter der Winckelmann-Gesellschaft'' (Newsletter of the Winckelmann Society) and ''Stendaler Winckelmann-Forschungen'' (Winckelmann Research in Stendal). For the Winckelmann Society he has been editor of numerous exhibition catalogues and co-editor of ''Geschichte der Kunst des Altertums'' (history of Antique Art), as well as ''J. J. Winckelmann. Schriften und Nachlaß'' (J. J. Winckelmann. Writings and Legacy). In October 2009 an international colloquium was held at Berlin to celebrate his 65th birthday. In 2012 he was involved in a dispute as to the authenticity of a bust of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

. The dispute was triggered by the question of the authenticity of a bronze Alexander bust that was shown in the Stendaler Winckelmann Museum in 2000. For Kunze the exhibit was a 2000 year old work of art although Stefan Lehmann argued that it is a fake, at most 100 years old.
Professorenstreit: Lehmann rudert zurück
'' Volksstimme.de 20 February 2012 (accessed 31 December 2017).

Selected works

* ''Die historischen und ideologischen Grundlagen des Klassizismus-Phänomens in der Reliefkunst der frühen römischen Kaiserzeit.'' (The Historical and Ideological Foundations of the Classicising Phenomenon in Relief Sculpture of the Early Roman Empire) Berlin 1974 (Dissertation). * Max Kunze, Huberta Heres (ed.): ''Die Welt der Etrusker.'' (The World of the Etruscans) Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1990, . * ''Der Altar von Pergamon.'' (The Altar of Pergamon) Staatliche Museen Berlin, Berlin 1991, . * ''Meisterwerke antiker Bronzen und Metallarbeiten aus der Sammlung Borowski.'' (Masterpieces of Ancient Bronze and Metalwork in the Borowski Collection) Verlag Franz Philipp Rutzen, Ruhpolding und Mainz 2007, .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunze, Max Classical archaeologists New York University faculty 1944 births Living people People of the Antikensammlung Berlin