Walter Graeff

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Karl Peter Adalbert Walter Gräff (born May 3, 1876 in Kreuznach , † May 11, 1934 in Munich ) was a German art historian .

Life

Walter Gräff, son of the tobacco manufacturer Julius Gräff and his wife Amalie, b. Engelmann, first attended grammar school in Kreuznach as well as grammar schools in Wetzlar and Weilburg, where he graduated from high school at Easter 1895. He then studied law in Heidelberg , Strasbourg, Berlin, Bonn and Marburg. In Heidelberg he was reciprocated in the Corps Rhenania Heidelberg in 1895 . From autumn 1901 he studied art history in Berlin. After a long period of study in Paris, he studied in Heidelberg from Easter 1904 and received his doctorate there in 1906 under Henry Thode . In 1908/09 he was a scientific assistant at the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich, in 1909 he moved to the Alte Pinakothek as a scientific assistant , where he was appointed curator in 1911 and curator in 1915. His activities were interrupted from 1914 to 1918 by military service in the First World War, in 1920 he was appointed chief curator and in 1925 he was given the title of professor. In 1933 he was appointed honorary professor for practical painting and museum studies at the University of Munich , but died a year later.

He dealt intensively with questions of painting technique and restoration. He was also one of the pioneers in the use of X-rays to examine paintings. He belonged to the German Society for Rational Painting Techniques and from 1916 at the latest he started using technical photography to examine paintings. He worked closely with the research institute and information center for painting technology at the Technical University of Munich under Alexander Eibner on the corner of Luisenstrasse and Gabelsbergerstrasse . He and Alexander Eibner lectured in Rome in 1930 at a specialist conference on the scientific investigation and conservation of art objects. After Eibner's retirement, he wrote a memorandum in 1932 for an “investigation and research institute for paintings and other works of fine art”. After the deaths of both of them, the research institute was closed, but from 1937 on the Doerner Institute followed up. He was also responsible for setting up the branch gallery of the Bavarian State Painting Collections in Speyer and the Benzino Gallery in Kaiserslautern.

He was married to Hanna (Johanna Charlotte Edda), geb. Weidemann.

Publications (selection)

  • The introduction of lithography in France . Rössler, Heidelberg 1906 (dissertation with curriculum vitae, digitized version ).
  • Catalog of the state painting collection in Speyer . Bruckmann, Munich 1928.

literature

  • Andreas Burmester , Helge Siefert: Crossing the border between art history and art technology: Walter Gräff (1876–1934) in memory . In: Bavarian State Painting Collections. Annual report 1998, pp. 12–24 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Kösener Corpslisten 1960, 65 , 463.
  2. ^ Doerner Institute. History - Before 1937 .
personal data
SURNAME Graeff, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gräff, Karl Peter Adalbert Walter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 3, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Kreuznach
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1934
Place of death Munich