Fritz Grossmann, art historian. Born 26 June 1902 in Stanislau, (then Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian, Empire), now Ivano-Frankivsk in the

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, died 16 November 1984,

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, London) was an Austrian-British art historian.

Biography

Fritz Grossmann was the son of a surgeon in the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

. He studied art history at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

under

Josef Strzygowski Josef Rudolph Thomas Strzygowski (March 7, 1862 – January 2, 1941) was a Polish-Austrian art historian known for his theories promoting influences from the art of the Near East on European art, for example that of Early Christian Armenian archi ...

. He also attended lectures by Julius von Schlosser, Hans Tietze, Swoboda and Heinrich Gluck. He graduated in 1927 and completed his doctorate in 1932. His thesis was a study of the High Altar in the Benedictine ''Scottish'' Monastery in Vienna ''Die Passions- und Marienlebenfolge im Wiener Schottenstift und ihre Stellungin der Wiener Malerei der Spätgotik''. Through his close friendship with other members of the Vienna School of Art History, most notably Fritz Novotny and Hans Tietze, he became closely connected with the promotion of the work of contemporary artists in Vienna. He was close friends with artists and sculptors such as Georg Erhlich, Bettina Erhlich, Gerhart Frankl,

Fritz Wotruba Fritz Wotruba (23 April 1907, Vienna, Austria – 28 August 1975, Vienna) was an Austrian sculptor of Czecho- Hungarian descent. He was considered one of the most notable sculptors of the 20th century in Austria. In his work, he increasingly di ...

, Georg Merkel, Theodore Fried, Lisel Salzer and Lois Pregartbauer. These were mainly artists who were part of the Hagenbund and had connections with the Zinkenbacher Malerkolonie on the

Wolfgangsee Lake Wolfgang (german: Wolfgangsee) is a lake in Austria that lies mostly within the state of Salzburg and is one of the best known lakes in the Salzkammergut resort region. The municipalities on its shore are Strobl, St. Gilgen with the villages ...

. He was employed as a lecturer in the Volkhochschule, taking part in their Art History ''Urania'' promotion programme and he also gave regular broadcasts on art history on Radio Vienna. From 1930 onwards he was the Austrian Editor of the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

magazine for contemporary art ''Forum'' and also a contributor to ''Belvedere''.

Move to London

In December 1938, as a result of the

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

, he left Vienna for London to work as a researcher for Ludwig Burchard on the ''Corpus Rubenianum''. At this time he developed his interests in

Netherlandish Art The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

and in particular the work of Holbein and Bruegel. In 1945 he helped Anthony Blunt to catalogue the German and Netherlandish Paintings in the Royal Collection for the Exhibition ''The King's Pictures'', which was held at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1946-7. He was also a close friend and advisor to Antoine Seilern, the Art Collector who amassed the notable Princess Gate Collection of paintings which was given to the Courtauld Gallery in 1978. In 1955 his study on Pieter Bruegel the Elder was published, which was rapidly accepted as the standard work on the artist and the following year he edited a revised translation of Max Friedländer's ''From Van Eyck to Bruegel'' for the Phaidon Press.

Manchester and Seattle

In 1960, he moved to the Manchester City Art Gallery where he became Deputy Director. In this period he mounted several notable exhibitions particularly on the work of

Wenceslas Hollar Wenceslaus Hollar (23 July 1607 – 25 March 1677) was a prolific and accomplished Bohemian graphic artist of the 17th century, who spent much of his life in England. He is known to German speakers as ; and to Czech speakers as . He is particu ...

(1961) and on Mannerist art (1965). He retired in 1966 and shortly afterwards became Visiting Professor of Art History at the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

from which he finally retired in 1972. He lived for the remainder of his life in

Dulwich Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half ...

, London His personal art historical archive of research and documentation relating to Pieter Bruegel the Elder was in 1985 donated to the Rubenianum in Antwerp, Belgium following his death. In 2013 the Zinkenbacher Malerkolonie Museum in St. Gilgen held an exhibition of the paintings collected by Fritz Grossmann which were associated with the Marlerkolonie and artists of the Hagenbund.Arnbom Marie-Theres et al., ''Bilder aus den Koffer: Die Sammlung Fritz Grossmann und die wiederentdeckung von Theodor Fried''. Austellung Museum Zinkenbacher, 13 Juli bis 13 Oktober 2013. St Gilgen.

Selected works

*(1931), "Zur Wiener Kubin-Ausstellung". In: ''Belvedere''. 10. *(1932) ''Malende Dichter und dichtende Maler''. Wien: Gesellschaft zur Förderung moderner Kunst Hagenbund. (Catalogue for an exhibition held in Vienna). *(1934) "Der Marler Gerhart Frankl". In: ''Forum'' Bd. II *(1938) ''Die Tafelmalerei des 14. und 15. Jahrhunderts in Österreich'', Vienna *(1950) "Holbein, Torrigiano and some portraits of Dean Colet: A study of Holbein's work in relation to sculpture". In: ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes''. 13. *(1951) "Holbein Studies—I". In: ''Burlington Magazine'' 93 (Feb. 1951) *(1951) "Holbein Studies—II". In: ''Burlington Magazine'' 93 (April 1951) *(1951) "Bruegel's 'Woman Taken in Adultery' and Other Grisailles". In: ''Burlington Magazine'' 94. *(1955) ''Bruegel: The Paintings, Complete Edition''. Phaidon London. *(1957) "Flemish Paintings at Bruges." In: ''Burlington Magazine'' 99, January1957. *(1961) "Breughels Verhältnis zu Raffael und zur Raffael-Nachfolge". In: ''Festschrift Kurt Badt zum 70. Geburtstage''. *(1961) "A Religious Allegory by Hans Holbein the Younger". In: ''Burlington Magazine'' 103 (1961) 49 *(1963). ''Between Renaissance and Baroque: European Art: 1520–1600''. Manchester City Art Gallery. *(1973) "Notes on sources of Bruegel’s Art". In: ''Album Amicorum J G Van Gelder'', *(1973) "Some Observations on G.de La Tour and the Netherlandish Tradition". In: ''Burlington Magazine'', Sept. 1973, pp. 576‐33. 1–494.

Biographical Literature

* E. H. Gombrich, "Fritz Grossmann" (obituary). In: ''Burlington Magazine,'' 127, June 1985. * Marie Theres Arnbom et al., ''Bilder aus den Koffer: Die Sammlung Fritz Grossmann und die Wiederentdeckung von Theodor Fried''. Austellung Museum Zinkenbacher, 13 Juli bis 13 Oktober 2013. St. Gilgen 2013. * Hilde Cuvelier, "Empathy and deep understanding, Fritz Grossmann (1902–84) and his Bruegel Archive at the Rubinianum", in Nijkamp L. et al. (eds) ''Picturing Ludwig Burchard 1886–1990. A Rubens Scholar in Art-Historical Perspective''. Harvey Miller/Brepols, London/Turnhout 2015, pp. 133–150.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grossmann, Fritz 1902 births 1984 deaths Writers from Ivano-Frankivsk People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian Jews Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Austro-Hungarian Jews Austrian art historians Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss British art historians 20th-century British historians University of Washington faculty University of Vienna alumni Recipients of the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art Writers from Manchester