Dietrich Seckel

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Dietrich Seckel (born August 6, 1910 in Berlin ; † February 12, 2007 in Heidelberg ) was a German art historian and is considered to be one of the founders of the university's East Asian art history in Germany.

Life

As the son of the legal scholar Emil Seckel , he grew up in Berlin, where he attended grammar school and studied German and art history. He preferred his doctorate in 1937 in German studies because it seemed to offer him better professional opportunities. In the same year he left Berlin and traveled to Japan.

In Japan from 1937 to 1947 he was lecturer for German language and lecturer for German literature at Japanese schools, including at the Imperial University of Tokyo . Arriving in Stuttgart after a five-week sea voyage from Japan, he initially worked in the Württemberg State Library . He obtained his habilitation in East Asian art history in 1948. In the same year he became a private lecturer at the University of Heidelberg .

From the summer semester of 1949 on, he held lectures at the Institute of Art History. Since he had gained a good reputation in East Asian art, he was able to set up a special department for East Asia, which he headed from 1957 until his retirement in 1976. Since 1965 he worked in Heidelberg as an adjunct professor and full professor . In 1982 he was elected a corresponding member of the Heidelberg Academy of Sciences .

During his stay in Japan he had gained and acquired a unique insight into the Asian art of representation. Above all, portraiture preoccupied him extraordinarily. With his teaching activities and the associated publications, he is considered the founder of East Asian art history in Germany, whereby his work Introduction to the Art of East Asia established his reputation.

Fonts (selection)

  • Hölderlins Sprachrhythmus: With an introduction to the problem of rhythm and a bibliography on rhythm research (= Palestra. Vol. 207). Mayer & Müller, Leipzig 1937.
  • Together with Otto Karow: The origin of the torii. A comparative linguistic, architectural and religious studies study (= communications of the German Society for Natural and Ethnographic Studies of East Asia. Vol. 33, Part B). German Society for Natural History and Ethnology of East Asia, Tokyo 1942.
  • Kariteimo. The "Buddhist Madonna" in Japanese art . Leipzig 1943.
  • Basics of Buddhist painting. An introduction . Tokyo 1945.
  • The bamboo in East Asia . In: Thanks to Robert Boehringer , Stuttgart: Württembergische Landesbibliothek 1948, pp. 45–58.
  • Buddhist art of East Asia . Stuttgart 1957.
  • As editor: Ando Hiroshige. Tokaido landscapes . Baden-Baden 1958.
  • As editor, together with Akihasi Hase: Emaki: The art of classic Japanese picture scrolls . Zurich 1959.
  • Together with Fujio Koyama : Ceramics of the Orient: China - Japan - Korea - Southeast Asia - Middle East . Wuerzburg 1959.
  • Introduction to the art of East Asia , Munich 1960.
  • Japanese plastic. Bruckmann, Munich 1961.
  • Art of Buddhism: Becoming, Migration and Transformation . Zurich 1962.
  • Beyond the picture. Aniconical symbolism in Buddhist art . 1976, ISBN 3-533-02511-X .
  • Fonts directory. With an autobiographical essay “My way to the art of East Asia” . 1981, ISBN 3-88129-428-7 .
  • The portrait in East Asia . 3 volumes, 1997–1999, ISBN 3-8253-1586-X .
  • Before and Beyond the Image. Aniconic Symbolism in Buddhist Style . 2007, ISBN 3-907077-13-X .

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Seckel, Dietrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian
DATE OF BIRTH August 6, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 2007
Place of death Heidelberg