Otto Pächt
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Otto Pächt (7 September 1902,
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
- 17 April 1988, Vienna) was an Austrian
art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...
and one of the representatives of the second wave of the
Vienna School of Art History {{Distinguish, Vienna School of History The Vienna School of Art History (german: Wiener Schule der Kunstgeschichte) was the development of fundamental art-historical methods at the University of Vienna. This school was not actually a dogmatically ...
. He mostly wrote on the medieval and Renaissance art of Europe. An exile from the Nazis, he taught in England and United States, before returning to Austria in 1963.


Early life and education

Pächt was born in Vienna on 7 September 1902 into a Jewish family. His father David Pächt, a Jewish industrialist who owned a successful textile factory in Vienna, came from
Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter BergerT ...
, and his mother, née Josefine Freundlich, from Vienna. His mother was a member of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien, the body that represented Vienna's Jewish community. He attended one of the 'Humanistisches Staatsgymnasium' in Vienna - a grammar school in which the classical languages Latin and ancient Greek are taught as the basis of European culture. In 1920 entered university in Vienna to study art history. Unlike his colleagues and the Germanic higher education model, where students moved from university to university to attend classes, Pächt remained in Vienna except for one semester in Berlin studying with Adolph Goldschmidt, and some contact with Wilhelm Pinder (q.v) in Leipzig. His principal influences in Vienna were the major forces in the so-called second or new "Vienna School" of art history: Max Dvořák, Karl Maria Swoboda, whose assistant he was, and Julius von Schlosser, the latter supervising his dissertation on medieval painting in 1925 "Das Verhältnis von Bild und Vorwurf in der mittelalterlichen Entwicklung der Historiendarstellung", supervised by
Julius von Schlosser Julius Alwin Franz Georg Andreas Ritter von Schlosser (23 September 1866, Vienna – 1 December 1938, Vienna) was an Austrian art historian and an important member of the Vienna School of Art History. According to Ernst Gombrich, he was "One of the ...
.Otto Pächt
Dictionary of Art Historians.
Pächt was, alongside
Hans Sedlmayr Hans Sedlmayr (18 January 1896, in Szarvkő, Kingdom of Hungary – 9 July 1984, in Salzburg) was an Austrian art historian. From 1931 to 1932 and from 1938 onwards, he was a member of the Nazi Party. Positions as a University Professor Sedlm ...
, one of the proponents of art-historical ''Strukturforschung'', a key scholar of the so-called New
Vienna School of Art History {{Distinguish, Vienna School of History The Vienna School of Art History (german: Wiener Schule der Kunstgeschichte) was the development of fundamental art-historical methods at the University of Vienna. This school was not actually a dogmatically ...
(an art-historical school involved in the reformulation of methodological approaches first advanced by
Alois Riegl Alois Riegl (14 January 1858, Linz – 17 June 1905, Vienna) was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient ac ...
). Between 1926-1930 he co-edited the new serial "Kritische Berichte zur kunstgeschichtlichen Literatur" (founded by Pächt and and in 1931 and 1933 edited the first (and only) two issues of "Kunstwissenschaftliche Forschungen" in collaboration with Sedlmayer). His doctoral dissertation (Habilitation) of 1932 was written on the painter
Michael Pacher Michael Pacher ( 1435 – August 1498) was a painter and sculptor from Tyrol active during the second half of the fifteenth century. He was one of the earliest artists to introduce the principles of Renaissance painting into Germany. Pacher was a ...
, supervised by
August Grisebach August Heinrich Rudolf Grisebach () was a German botany, botanist and phytogeography, phytogeographer. He was born in Hannover on 17 April 1814 and died in Göttingen on 9 May 1879. Biography Grisebach studied at the Lyceum in Hanover, the clo ...
at Heidelberg. It was published 1933 as a short article in the journal ''Kunstwissenschaftliche Forschungen''. With the rise of National Socialism in Germany in 1933, Pächt's university post was revoked and he returned to Vienna. Shortly before 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 ...
, in 1936, Pächt left Austria to accept an invitation by the Irish George Furlong, Director of the
National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...
.


Life in London and Oxford

From 1937 until 1941, he lectured in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
at the
Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...
and
Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cros ...
, whose director was the viennese
Fritz Saxl Friedrich "Fritz" Saxl (8 January 1890, Vienna, Austria – 22 March 1948, Dulwich, London) was the art historian who was the guiding light of the Warburg Institute, especially during the long mental breakdown of its founder, Aby Warburg, whom h ...
. At
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, he was entrusted with the cataloguing of the collection of manuscripts of the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, Oxford, which resulted in a 3-volume catalogue "Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library", published in 1966, 1970 and 1973 together with his pupil J.J.G. Alexander. From 1945 he held an honorary lectureship in medieval art at
Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...
, and in 1950 was appointed fellower of the University. In the 1950s and 1960s Pächt held short-term positions at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, Cambridge and New York.


Return to Vienna

In 1963, at the invitation of
Otto Demus Otto Demus (born St. Pölten, Austria, 1902; died Vienna, 17 November 1990) was an Austrian art historian and Byzantinist. He is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. Between 1921 and 1928, Demus studied art history at the Uni ...
, he was appointed professor of 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 histor ...
. From 1969, Pächt headed the Department of Manuscripts at the Austrian National Library, and following his retirement in 1972, he compiled and edited a catalogue of illuminated manuscripts of the Vienna National Library, which appeared 1974 under the title "Die illuminierten Handschriften und Inkunabeln der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek" as vol. I of the series "Veröffentlichungen der Kommission für Schrift- und Buchwesen des Mittelalters". Otto Pacht died in Vienna on 17 April 1988 and is buried in the city's Neustifter Friedhof. Photographs by Otto Pacht are held at the Conway Library in the Courtauld, London, and are being digitised.


Representative work

* ''Das Verhältnis von Bild und Vorwurf in der mittelalterliche Entwicklung der Historiendarstellung, Phil. Diss.'', (doctoral dissertation), Vienna, 1925. * ''Österreichische Tafelmalerei der Gotik''. Augsburg, 1929. * ''Gestaltungsprinzipien der westlichen Malerei des 15. Jahrunderts'', (Habilitationsschrift), Heidelberg, 1932. Published partially as: "Gestaltungsprinzipien der westlichen Malerei des 15. Jahrhunderts". In: ''Kunstwissenschaftliche Forschungen'' 2 (1933): p. 75–100. * "Die historische Aufgabe Michael Pachers". In: ''Kunstwissenschaftliche Forschungen'', 1, Berlin 1931, p. 95–132. * "A Book of Hours by Jean Fouquet". In: ''The Bodleian Library Record,'' 1, Oxford 1941, p. 245–247. * ''The Master of Mary of Burgundy'', London 1948. * "Early Italian Nature Studies and the Early Calendar Landscape". In: ''Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes'', 13, London 1950, p. 13–47. * "The Avignon Diptych and its Eastern Ancestry". In: ''De atticus opuscula XL. Essays in Honor of Erwin Panofsky'', ed. M. Meiss, New York, 1961, p. 402–421. * "Die Gotik der Zeit um 1400 als gesamteuropäische Kunstsprache", in: Exhibition. cat. ''Europäische Kunst um 1400'', Vienna 1962. * "Panofsky's 'Early Netherlandish Painting'", ''Burlington Magazine'' 98 (1956), part I (April): 110-116, part II (August): 267–79. * "
Alois Riegl Alois Riegl (14 January 1858, Linz – 17 June 1905, Vienna) was an Austrian art historian, and is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. He was one of the major figures in the establishment of art history as a self-sufficient ac ...
", ''Burlington Magazine'' 105 (May 1963): 188–93. * ''Methodisches zur Kunstgeschichtlichen Praxis, ausgewählte Schriften'', Munich:
Prestel Prestel (abbrev. from press telephone), the brand name for the UK Post Office Telecommunications's Viewdata technology, was an interactive videotex system developed during the late 1970s and commercially launched in 1979. It achieved a maximu ...
, 1977. Translated in English as ''The Practice of Art History: Reflections on Method'', London Harvey Miller, 1999. * ''Van Eyck: Die Begründer der altniederländischen Malerei''. Munich: 1989. Translated as ''Van Eyck and the Founders of Early Netherlandish Painting'', 1994. * ''Book Illumination in the Middle Ages. An Introduction''. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 1994. * ''Early Netherlandish Painting. From Rogier van der Weyden to Gerard David'', ed. by Monika Rosenauer, London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 1997. * ''Venetian Painting in the Fifteenth Century. From Mantegna to Bellini''. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2003.


Decorations and awards

* Since 1956: Member of the
British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
* Since 1967: Member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences * *1976: Wilhelm Hartel Prize
Austrian Decoration for Science and Art The Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (german: Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria and forms part of the Austrian national honours system. History The "Austrian D ...
* 1976: Austrian Cross of Honor for Sciences and Art, First Class * 1971: Honorary Doctor from the University of Oxford * 1981: Ehrenmedaille der Bundeshauptstadt Wien in Gold * 1982: "Officier de l'Ordre National de Mérite de la République Française" * 1985: Austrian Decoration for Science and Art


References


External links


Dictionary of Art Historians entry - Otto Pächt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paecht, Otto 1902 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Austrian historians Austrian art historians Bukovina Jews Academics of the University of Vienna Writers from Vienna Recipients of the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United Kingdom after the Anschluss
Pacht The institution of the ''pacht'' or ''pacht-stelsel'' (revenue farm, pl. ''pachten'') was a system of tax farming in the Dutch Republic. In this system tax is not collected by the government, but by a private individual who has leased the right to ...