George L. Hersey

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George Leonard Hersey (usually George L. Hersey or George Hersey ; born August 30, 1927 in Cambridge , Massachusetts , † October 23, 2007 in New Haven , Connecticut ) was an American art and architecture historian and cultural scientist . The internationally recognized expert primarily on the architecture and sculpture of the Italian Renaissance as well as the architecture and art of the 19th century in Europe and America was professor of art history at Yale University from 1971 to 1998 .

Life

After the completion of the High School served 1,945 George Leonard Hersey first in the US Merchant Marine ( United States Merchant Marine who), who helped at the time US troops after use in World War II to bring back home. Among other things, he worked as a purser ( paymaster ). He then joined the US Army , where the reintegration of World War II soldiers was one of his tasks. At the same time he attended a cooking school and learned to play the French horn . He mastered this instrument so well that he was assigned to a band that played at the Army and Navy General Hospital in Hot Springs , Arkansas .

After his military service he began his studies, among other things, in stage design , obtained a Bachelor (BA) from Harvard University in 1951 and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Drama from Yale University in 1954 . He then taught at Bucknell University for five years . There his interest in art history was aroused. He returned to Yale University in 1959 to study the subject. In 1963 he obtained his Master of Arts (MA) and in 1964 his Ph.D. in art history. From 1963 he taught at the Department of the History of Art at Yale University and was appointed full professor there in 1971 . He held this position until his retirement in 1998. He has also been invited to Italy to give guest lectures. From 1975 to 1992 he was editor of the Yale Publications in the History of Art series at Yale University Press. He was also co-editor of the Architectura magazine .

His awards include the fellowships Fulbright Scholarship and Morse Fellowship .

Professor emeritus George Leonard Hersey died on October 23, 2007 at the age of 80 in New Haven. He left behind his wife Jane and adult children Donald and James.

Services

George L. Hersey presented an art-historical study of the triumphal arch at the main gate of Castel Nuovo .
George Hersey also studied the Palace of Caserta

George L. Hersey made a name for himself as an expert on the architecture and sculpture of the Italian Renaissance as well as the architecture and art of the 19th century in Europe and America . His specialty was the architectural and art history of Naples during the Renaissance. He presented fundamental books on this subject, such as Alfonso II and the Artistic Renewal of Naples 1485–1495 (1969), which deals with the significance of Alfonso II of Naples in art history , and The Aragonese Arch at Naples, 1443–1475 (1973), which has the triumphal arch at Castel Nuovo as its subject. The range of his interests stretched to Mimmo Jodice , the photographer known not least for his gloomy shots of his hometown Naples. Together with Predrag Matvejević dedicated to him Hersey in 1995 the essay band Mediterranea .

With Architecture, Poetry and Number in the Royal Palace at Caserta , he presented a comprehensive study of the Palace of Caserta in 1983 . In The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture. Speculations on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi (1988) he dealt with the importance of ornament in art and architecture from Vitruvius to Venturino Venturi . More general considerations on the Italian Renaissance were Pythagorean Palaces. Architecture and Magic in the Italian Renaissance (1976) and Architecture and Geometry in the Age of the Baroque (2000).

Hersey also recognized that extend through the computer technology be opened ways to calculate historical buildings and subsequently by computer graphics to visualize. With Richard Freedman he wrote Possible Palladian Villas (1992), which shed new light on the geometric principles on which Andrea Palladio's designs were based.

In addition, he has also dealt with the entire cultural-historical significance of the fine arts from antiquity to the 20th century and examined its scientific , philosophical - ideological and sociological backgrounds and conditions, for example in The Monumental Impulse. Architecture's Biological Roots (1999). One of his best known books was Seduction Made to Measure. Ideal and Tyranny of the Perfect Body ( The Evolution of Allure. Sexual Selection from the Medici Venus to the Incredible Hulk , 1996). It spans a wide range of development and at the same time astonishing continuity of the idea of ​​the perfect body from the sculptors of antiquity to the Renaissance, fascism and modern bodybuilding . His last book, Falling in Love With Statues, was similarly broad . Artificial Humans from Pygmalion to the Present , published posthumously in 2008.

Fonts

literature

  • Hersey, George Leonard (1927) . In: Contemporary Authors: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Nonfiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other field . Gale Cengage 2003, ISBN 0-7876-6639-4 or ISBN 978-0-7876-6639-2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituary of Yale University in Yale Bulletin & Calendar, Volume 36, No. 10 from November 9, 2007 ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; Retrieved July 5, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yale.edu
  2. ↑ according to the obituary of Yale University in the Yale Bulletin & Calendar, Volume 36, No. 10 from November 9, 2007 ( memento of the original from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed July 5, 2009); according to information from Yale University elsewhere ( memento of the original from July 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed July 5, 2009) in the Yale Bulletin & Calendar as early as 1961 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yale.edu @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yale.edu
  3. ↑ according to the obituary of Yale University in the Yale Bulletin & Calendar, Volume 36, No. 10 from November 9, 2007 ( memento of the original from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed July 5, 2009); according to information from Yale University elsewhere ( memento of the original from July 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed July 5, 2009) in the Yale Bulletin & Calendar but not until 1974 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yale.edu @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yale.edu
  4. ↑ Yale Bulletin & Calendar ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yale.edu
  5. ↑ Obituary ( Memento of the original from April 18, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. from Yale University. In: Yale Bulletin & Calendar , Volume 36, No. 10, November 9, 2007; Retrieved July 5, 2009  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.yale.edu
personal data
SURNAME Hersey, George L.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hersey, George Leonard (full name); Hersey, George
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American art and architecture historian and cultural scientist
DATE OF BIRTH August 30, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Cambridge , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH October 23, 2007
Place of death New Haven , Connecticut