John Rothenstein

Sir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein CBE (born July 11, 1901 in London ; † February 27, 1992 ibid) was a British art historian and long-time director of the Tate Gallery .

biography

The son of the painter , draftsman and printmaker William Rothstein and brother of the graphic artist Sir William Francis Michael Rothstein graduated after school to study at Worcester College of the University of Oxford and the University College London . After completing his studies and his conversion from Judaism to the Roman Catholic Church , he went to the United States , where he worked as a teacher from 1927 to 1929 . After returning to Great Britain, he obtained a PhD in history in 1931 with a dissertation on Nineteenth-Century Painting: a Study in Conflict . He then became in 1932 Director of the Municipal Art Galleries of Leeds and Sheffield .

He then succeeded James Bolivar Manson as director of the Tate Gallery in 1938 and held this position for more than a quarter of a century until he was replaced by Norman Reid in 1964. In this capacity, he was attacked in the 1950s by the art historian, art critic and art collector Douglas Cooper for his lack of support for modern art, whereupon Rothenstein, extremely irritated, knocked him down at a party with a punch. However, Cooper tried unsuccessfully to drive him out of office.

In 1952 he was knighted as a Knight Bachelor .

After finishing his work at the Tate Gallery, he succeeded Charles Percy Snow as Rector of the University of St. Andrews in 1964 . In 1967 he was replaced in this capacity by Learie Constantine .

He was then visiting professor at Fordham University from 1967 to 1968, Agnes Scott College in Atlanta from 1969 to 1970 and Brooklyn College from 1971 to 1972. Most recently, he was visiting professor of art history at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in 1973. In 1969 he was also a consultant for the Anglo-American Sovereign-American Arts Corporation .

His numerous art historical publications include:

• The Portrait Drawings of William Rothenstein , 1926
• First Nudes Eric Gill , 1927
• Modern English Painters (1952 to 1973)
• British Art Since 1900: an Anthology (1962)
• A Brief History of the Tate Gallery: with a Selection of Paintings and Sculpture (1964)
• An introduction to English painting (1965)
• A pot of paint; the artists of the 1890's , 1970.

His autobiography appeared in three volumes under the titles Summer's Lease: Being Volume One of an Autobiography (1965), Brave Day, Hideous Night: Autobiography, 1939-1965 (1966) and Time's Thievish Progress: Autobiography (1970).

swell

• Biography (Homepage of the Tate Gallery)
• Biography (DICTIONARY OF ART HISTORIANS)
• CHAMBERS Biographical Dictionary , pp. 1311, 2002, ISBN 0-550-10051-2

Individual evidence

1. ^ Archive Journeys: Tate History. Sir John Rothenstein (1938–1964) ( Memento of the original dated August 29, 2008 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. 
2. ↑ Knights and Dames at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
3. ↑ DER SPIEGEL: KUNSTMARKT: Wonderful transfer (No. 43/1975)
4. ↑ First Nudes Eric Gill ( Memento of the original from February 21, 2010 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. 
5. ↑ MODERN ENGLISH PAINTERS (1956)
6. ^ John Rothenstein: An Introduction to English Painting . IBTauris, London 2001, ISBN 1-86064-678-6 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).
7. ↑ John Rothenstein: A Pot of Paint; the Artists of the 1890's (=  Essay index reprint series ). Books for Libraries Press, Freeport 1929, ISBN 0-8369-1847-9 (English, limited preview in Google Book Search).