Friedrich Back (art historian)

Friedrich Back (born June 16, 1860 in Wetzlar , † March 17, 1932 in Darmstadt ) was a German art historian and museum director.

Life

Friedrich Karl Back was born in Wetzlar in June 1860 as the son of the grammar school director Friedrich Back and his wife Henriette Schneider. He grew up in Sobernheim and Birkenfeld (Nahe) . From 1878 he studied classical philology and archeology in Halle, Strasbourg and Berlin. In 1881 he was awarded a doctorate by Ernst Curtius in Berlin. phil. PhD . After completing his doctorate, he was initially trained as a teacher at the Grand Ducal Gymnasium with a real department at Birkenfeld, Schneewiesenstrasse 22. In 1886 he was employed at the Royal Library in Berlin. In 1890 he became a librarian at the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin. Here he devoted himself increasingly to questions of art history.

In 1896 Back came, presumably through the mediation of Alfred Messel , as an inspector at the Grand Ducal Museum in Darmstadt. Here he became head of the picture gallery and the copper engraving cabinet. After the death of the archaeologist Rudolf Adamy (1850–1898) Back also took over the management of the historical collections. In June 1898 he became a member of the select committee of the trade association for the Grand Duchy of Darmstadt. In 1898 he also received a private lecturer for the history of the decorative and reproductive arts and applied arts at the TH Darmstadt . Two years later he was also awarded the title of professor.

On May 5, 1900, Back was appointed director of the Grand Ducal Museum in Darmstadt. The main task for him during this time was the conception of the repositioning of the collections in the new building of the museum on Paradeplatz designed by Alfred Messel . Back pursued the goal of conveying works of art in a historically coherent context. He put a certain emphasis on Hessian history and art. At the opening of the new building on November 27, 1906, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig awarded him the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous.

Back was also a member of the Hessian Monument Council from 1903. In 1908 he wrote a museum guide to the newly opened collections and in 1914 the list of paintings. Back played a key role in the “Centennial Exhibition of German Art 1650–1800” held in the castle in 1914.

Back retired on August 1, 1926. He died in March 1932 at the age of 71. He was buried in Darmstadt's old cemetery. Friedrich Back was married to Helene Andres (1867–1920). The marriage remained childless.

Honors

• 1900: Awarded the title of professor
• 1906: Award of the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Order of Merit of Philip the Magnanimous
• 1910: Permission to accept and wear the Order of St. Stanislaus II. Class awarded to him by the Emperor of Russia
• 1912: Appointed Privy Councilor

Publications (selection)

• 1883: De Graecorum caerimoniis in quibus homines deorum vice fungabantur , dissertation, Berlin.
• 1910: Middle Rhine art, Frankfurt am Main.
• 1914: Directory of the paintings of the Grand Ducal Hessian State Museum Darmstadt , Darmstadt.
• 1916: Karl Thylmann memorial exhibition . Darmstadt.
• 1917: Ernst Ludwig. Festschrift for the 25th anniversary of the reign of His Royal Highness the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and near the Rhine , Leipzig.
• 1922: Friedr. Back: 1833 - 1901. a picture of life , Birkenfeld.
• 1923: The glass paintings , Darmstadt.
• 1927: body and rhythm. Greek sculptures , Leipzig.
• 1932: A millennium of artistic culture on the Middle Rhine , Darmstadt.

literature

• Friedrich Back , in: Darmstädter Stadtlexikon . Stuttgart 2006, p. 53 ( digitized version ).