Alfred Werner (art historian)

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Alfred Werner (actually: Alfred Siegfried Weintraub , born March 31, 1911 in Vienna , Austria-Hungary ; died July 14, 1979 in New York ) was an Austrian-American poet, journalist and art historian .

Life

Alfred Werner's parents, the lawyer Ignatz Weintraub and Maria Friederika, née Silberstein, came from Lemberg , where they married in June 1910. Alfred had a brother Edward who was two years his junior. When the siblings were still toddlers, their mother died in an accident. Ignatz Weintraub later remarried, which resulted in Alfred and his brother having a stepsister.

As a high school student, Alfred began to publish poems under the pseudonym Alfred Werner. He studied law in Vienna and received his doctorate in 1934. During his studies he was active with the socialist students and in 1933 he became a member of the Association of Socialist Writers . He published a first volume of his own poems under the title Wille und Wort . From 1935 to 1937 he also studied philosophy at the University of Vienna. He taught at the Jewish Adult Education Center and in 1936 became literary director of the Jewish Cultural Center in Vienna, which had been located on Franz-Josefs-Kai since 1935 .

He was editor of the magazine of the Jewish cultural center Die Garbe and employee of the magazines The Voice published by the Zionist regional association for Austria, Justice , published by Irene Harand and The Christian Ständestaat , published by Dietrich von Hildebrand .

Imprisonment and emigration

After Austria's annexation in March 1938, Werner's fiancée Gertrude Bach lost her job as a doctor and had to work as a nurse in the Jewish hospital. Werner was arrested on November 10, 1938 and deported to the Dachau concentration camp . Thanks to Gertrude Bach's personal commitment, Werner was released from the concentration camp in March 1939 on condition that he leave Austria. They both fled to England, where Werner was housed in the Kitchener internship for Jewish refugees in Richborough Port , while Bach was taken in with a Christian host family.

United States

In 1940 both were able to travel to the USA. From 1941 to 1945 he worked on the editorial staff of the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia , which appeared in 1948. In the 1940s and 1950s Werner wrote primarily about world events, with an emphasis on Jewish and Zionist topics. From 1943 to 1960 he was co-editor of the quarterly magazine Chicago Jewish Forum , which was published from 1942 to 1969 by the lawyer Benjamin Weintroub (1889-1970). Werner's articles appeared primarily in American Jewish journals such as The American Zionist of the Zionist Organization of America , the Brooklyn Jewish Center Review, and Congress Weekly , the journal of the American Jewish Congress . He also published in Jewish magazines in Europe and Israel, and in newspapers such as Saturday Review of Literature , New York Post , Esquire , The Nation, and The New Republic .

Art historian

Werner, who had mainly written poems, short stories and feature articles until 1938, initially found it difficult to gain recognition as a freelance writer and to earn a living in the USA. He then specialized in art history with a focus on expressionism .

Werner studied art history from 1949 to 1952 at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University . He taught art history from 1950 to 1955 at the City University of New York , 1955-1956 at Wagner College in Staten Island . From 1956 to 1979 he worked as an art consultant at the Theodor Herzl Institute in New York, where he curated numerous exhibitions and gave lectures. He also taught at various universities and museums in the USA and Canada. From 1974 he was visiting professor at Rutgers University .

Werner was in charge of an art column "Views and Visions" for Jewish News , published in Newark, and wrote for American Artist magazine (Watson-Guptill publisher) and Pantheon magazine in Munich . International art magazine and was editor of Art Voices . For the Encyclopaedia Judaica , which appeared in 1971, he was the editor of the visual arts section.

In 1967 he was awarded the title of professor by the Republic of Austria and in 1971 the Federal Cross of Merit 1st class from the Federal Republic of Germany .

Werner's first wife Gertrude Bach died in 1952. Werner later married two more times. His second wife Judith Mayer died in the late 1960s. In 1975 he married Lisa Tramm, who was caring for him when he developed Parkinson's . Werner died in 1979 of cancer.

Books

Volumes of poetry

  • Will and Word , Vienna
  • The look inside. Poems and sayings , Vienna 1935, Hans Beer
  • Prayer from the depths , with illustrations by Hans Felix Kraus , Vienna 1936, Sussmann
  • Richard Beer-Hofmann. Sinn und Gestalt (for the 70th birthday of Richard Beer-Hofmann ), Vienna 1936, Verlag Dr. Heinrich gloss

Art history

  • Alexander Watin and Jewish Folk Art , Vienna 1937, R. Löwit
  • Story of Jewish Art , New York 1946, Office of Jewish Information, American Jewish Congress (Jewish affairs, Volume 1, No. 14)
  • Tropical butterflies , with Josef Bijok, New York 1949, AA Wyn
  • Icons. Religious art of eastern Europe , New York 1949, AA Wyn
  • Famous portrait miniatures , New York 1951, AA Wyn
  • Maurice Utrillo , New York 1952, HN Abrams
  • Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) , New York 1953, HN Abrams and Pocket Books
  • Henri Rousseau , New York 1957, HN Abrams
  • Rubin , Tel Aviv 1958, Massadah
  • Mané-Katz , Tel Aviv 1960, Massadah
  • Modigliani the Sculptor , New York 1962, Arts inc.
    • German edition: Modigliani, the sculptor , Geneva 1962, Alfred Nagel
  • Pascin , New York 1962, HN Abrams
    • German edition: Jules Pascin 1885-1930 , East Berlin 1963, Rütten & Loening
  • Tully Filmus , Cleveland 1963, World Publishing
  • Glicenstein , Tel Aviv 1963, Massadah
  • Painting by the post-impressionists , New York 1963, McGraw-Hill
  • German painting, the Old Masters , New York 1964, McGraw-Hill
  • Israel Landscapes and People , painting by Joel Rohr, Kibbutz Kfar Menachem , Israel 1964
  • Amedeo Modigliani , New York 1966, HN Abrams
    • German edition: Cologne 1968, DuMont Schauberg
  • Ernst Barlach , New York 1966, McGraw-Hill
  • Scenes from the Bible , pictures from Ezekiel Castle, New York 1966, Ktav
  • Paul Gauguin , New York 1967, McGraw-Hill
  • Chagall , New York 1967, Tudor
  • Eight oil paintings, six drawings , pictures by Zvi Livni , Tel-Aviv 1968, Yavneh
  • Degas pastels ,
    • New York 1968, Watson-Guptill
    • ed. by Judith A. Levy, London 1969, Barrie & Rockliff the Cresset Press
  • Lipchitz . The Cubist Period 1913-1930 , catalog for the exhibition at the Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York 1968
  • Introduction and captions for: Albert Fidelis Butsch , Handbook of Renaissance ornament. 1290 designs from decorated books , New York 1969, Dover Publications
  • The graphic works of Odilon Redon , New York 1969, Dover Publications
  • Modigliani, Utrillo, Soutine , New York 1969, Tudor
  • Chagall, Watercolors and Gouaches , ed. by Heather Meredith, New York 1970, Watson-Guptill
  • Fifty Years of Watercolors Catalog for the exhibition with pictures by William Zorach (1887–1966), New York 1970, Bernard Danenberg Galleries
  • Moses Soyer , with memoirs by David Soyer, South Brunswick 1970, AS Barnes
  • Maurice Vlaminck , New York 1971, HN Abrams
  • Inness , Landscapes , New York 1973, Watson-Guptill
  • Hyman Bloom , Recent paintings , exhibition catalog April 1 - April 26, New York 1975, Terry Dintenfass
  • Michael Schreck, Sculpture , Coral Gables 1975, University of Miami Press
  • Max Weber , New York 1975, Abrams
  • Pictures of Traditional Jewish Life , via Moritz Daniel Oppenheim , New York 1976, Ktav
  • Chaim Soutine
    • New York 1977, HN Abrams
    • London 1978, Thames and Hudson
  • Families & Feasts catalog for the exhibition with paintings by Moritz Daniel Oppenheim and Isidor Kaufmann , Yeshiva University Museum New York, April 24 - June 19, 1977
  • Chaim Gross , Watercolors and Drawings , New York 1979, HN Abrams
  • Graphic works of Edvard Munch , New York 1979, Dover Publications

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ According to the birth certificate of Alfred Siegfried Weintraub, issued on March 11, 1976.
personal data
SURNAME Werner, Alfred
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Weintraub, Alfred Siegfried
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-American journalist and art historian
DATE OF BIRTH March 31, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 1979
Place of death new York