Hans Huth (art historian, 1892)

Hans August Huth (born November 11, 1892 in Halle (Saale) , † July 1, 1977 in Carmel-by-the-Sea , California) was a German-American art historian .

Life

His parents were the businessman Louis Huth (1854–1925) - younger brother and partner of the department store owner Adolf Huth (* 1845) - and his wife Rosa Huth nee. Hirschfeld (1863-1921). After attending the Reform Realgymnasium in Naumburg (Saale) , he studied art history from 1912 at the University of Halle under Wilhelm Waetzoldt and at the University of Vienna under Max Dvořák and Julius von Schlosser . After participating in the First World War as an artillery officer , he continued his studies in 1918 at the University of Berlin , where he in 1922 Adolph Goldschmidt doctorate was.

From 1922 to 1924 he was initially a volunteer , then a research assistant at the Bavarian National Museum , the Residence Museum and in the graphic collection in Munich. From 1925 to 1927 he was a research assistant at the Castle Museum in Berlin. From 1927 to 1936 he worked for the administration of the State Palaces and Gardens in Berlin, initially with a work contract , then permanently employed as curator and library councilor. In 1933 he was first given leave of absence as a "non-Aryan" due to the law to restore the civil service, which was reversed after a few months because of his frontline combatant privilege . In 1936 he was finally released.

In 1937 he went to France, where he worked as a librarian for the private collection of James Hazen Hyde in Versailles . In 1939 he fled to the United States, where he taught at Yale University , then at New York University . From 1939 to 1944 he worked as a consultant for the National Park Service's historical department , where he was a. a. responsible for the collection of the White House . From 1944 until his retirement in 1963 he worked as a curator at the Art Institute of Chicago , initially at the Department of Painting and Sculpture, and from 1958 as Curator of Decorative Arts. In 1945 he became a US citizen. In retirement, he lived in Carmel and taught museum studies at the University of California at Los Angeles from 1966 to 1969 .

While his scientific specialty was late Gothic carving from his doctorate , he came to handicrafts by working for the Prussian palaces and gardens . This also resulted in his knowledge of museum organization and monument conservation , which he brought from Germany to the USA.

Fonts (selection)

• The collaboration of painter and sculptor on the sculptural work of the late Gothic in Germany (1380–1520) . Dissertation, Berlin 1922.
• Late Gothic artist and workshop . Dr. Benno Filser Verlag, Augsburg 1923 (print version of the dissertation).
  • 2., ext. Edition to 22 contract documents exp. Reprint. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1967.
• The Residenz Palace in Kassel . German art publisher, Berlin 1930.
• Observations Concerning the Conservation of Monuments in Europe and America . US Park Service, Washington, DC 1940.
• Nature and the American. Three Centuries of Changing Attitudes . University of California Press, Berkeley 1957.
• Lacquer of the West. The History of a Craft and an Industry, 1550-1950 . University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1971.

literature

• Georg Himmelträger : Hans Huth, 1892–1977 . Private print Munich 1977 (bibliography).
• Ulrike Wendland: Biographical handbook of German-speaking art historians in exile. Life and work of the scientists persecuted and expelled under National Socialism. KG Saur, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-598-11339-0 , Volume 1, pp. 327-332.

Web links

• Dictionary of Art Historians