Otto Schmitt (art historian)

Otto Schmitt (born December 13, 1890 in Mainz , † July 21, 1951 in Ulm ) was a German art historian and the first editor of the Real Lexicon on German Art History .

Life

Otto Schmitt studied art history, classical archeology and history in Freiburg im Breisgau , Strasbourg and Gießen . In 1914 he received his doctorate in Giessen under Christian Rauch . He then worked on the art monuments of the city of Mainz as assistant to Rudolf Kautzsch . From 1915 to 1919 he was an assistant at the Art History Institute at the University of Frankfurt am Main . He completed his habilitation there in 1919. In 1925 he became a full professor and director of the art history seminar at the University of Greifswald . From 1927 he worked there together with Max Semrau on the conception of the “Real Lexicon for German Art History” and after Semrau's death in 1928 he became the sole editor.

In 1935 he became professor of art history at the Technical University of Stuttgart . Between 1938 and 1946 Schmitt also taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart and in 1947 became honorary professor at the University of Tübingen . From 1948 until his death in 1951 Otto Schmitt was also the first deputy chairman of the newly founded Association of German Art Historians .

He turned down calls to Bonn, Frankfurt or Mainz and instead worked as dean of the faculty for natural and human sciences (1946 and 1947/1948) for the reconstruction of the Stuttgart university. As rector in 1948/1949 and 1949/1950, he also took on responsibility for reforming the university and brought many innovations on the way, including the re-establishment of the “Association of Friends of the University” and the establishment of the university advisory board.

Scientific work

High and late medieval sculpture in Germany was one of Otto Schmitt's main research areas. Here he presented essential works in the history of style. A pedagogical and communicative talent and his charismatic way of speaking set him apart.

To this day his name is closely linked to the “Reallexikon zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte”, of which he was the founder and first editor. It is still valid as a standard work on research into realities. After Schmitt's death, the editing of the real lexicon was continued at the Central Institute for Art History in Munich. An online version has also been available since 2007.

Fonts (selection)

• The south portal of Worms Cathedral , (Diss. Gießen 1914), in: Mainzer Zeitschrift 12/13, 1917/18, pp. 115–143.
• Gothic sculptures of the Strasbourg cathedral , 2 vols., Frankfurt a. M. 1924.
• Upper Rhine sculpture in the late Middle Ages , Freiburg i. Br. 1924.
• Gothic sculptures of the Freiburg Minster , 2 vols., Frankfurt a. M. 1926.
• Editor and editor of the Reallexikons zur Deutschen Kunstgeschichte I, 1937-III, Lfg.1 / 2, 1951.

• See bibliography in: Hans Wenzel (Hrsg.): Form und Inhalt. Art history studies. Otto Schmitt on his 60th birthday on December 13, 1950 , Stuttgart 1950.

literature

• Werner Fleischhauer: Obituary for Otto Schmitt , in: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte 11 (1952), pp. 263–264.
• Wolfgang Augustyn: awakening joy in art. The art historian Otto Schmitt (1890-1951) . In: The University of Stuttgart after 1945: History. Developments. Personalities , ed. by Franz Quarthal and Norbert Becker, Stuttgart 2004, pp. 317-324.
• Wolfgang Augustyn:  Schmitt, Otto. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 240 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

• Works by and about Otto Schmitt  in the German Digital Library
• http://rdk.zikg.net/gsdl/cgi-bin/library.exe