Werner Cohn (art historian)

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Werner Cohn (born October 5, 1905 in Berlin ; died September 2, 1960 in Florence ) was a Jewish- German art historian .

Life

Werner Cohn attended school in Berlin and from 1923 studied art history in Berlin and Freiburg im Breisgau with Adolph Goldschmidt and Hans Jantzen . He was born in Freiburg in 1929 with a dissertation on Hans Holbein the Elder. J. PhD. In the time of the Great Depression he worked unpaid from 1931 on the catalog of the ornament engraving collection of the art library of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin . After the seizure of power , he was no longer allowed to work for racist reasons. Between 1933 and 1935, Cohn published several volumes in the series of single-sheet prints of the 15th century by the Heitz publishing house in Strasbourg .

Cohn emigrated to Italy in 1935, where he was unable to establish a permanent economic existence. He worked temporarily with Richard Offner on the Corpus of Florentine Painting . His Holbein monograph remained unfinished. Cohn received an affidavit for emigration to the USA, but had to stay in Italy after the start of the war and protect himself from the racial laws of Italy and, from 1943, hide from the German persecution of Jews in the mountains.

After the end of the war, Cohn returned to Florence and continued to find only casual jobs. He worked in the archives of the Uffizi and translated art guides into German for German travelers to Italy. A documentation of Florentine painting funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) was incomplete and unpublished when Cohn died in 1960.

Fonts (selection)

  • The change in architectural design in the works of Hans Holbein the Elder. J.: A contribution to the Holbein chronology . Strasbourg, 1929. Freiburg i. B., Phil. Diss.
  • Investigations into the history of the German single-leaf woodcut in the 2nd third of the 15th century . Strasbourg: JH Ed. Heitz, 1934
  • Single-sheet prints from the Strasbourg printing house Johannes Grüninger: with inlet u. describe Text . Strasbourg: JH Ed. Heitz, 1937
  • Hans Holbein: 1497–1543 . Milan: Electa, 1957
  • Albrecht Dürer: 1471–1528 . Milan: Electa, 1958
  • Lucas Cranach: 1472–1553 . Paris: Hatier, 1959
Translations
  • Piero Bargellini : Assisi: A Guide Through Past and Present . Translation by Werner Cohn. Florence: Arnaud, 1954
  • Roberto Salvini (Ed.): The Uffizi Gallery: Guide for Visitors and Catalog d. Painting . Translation by Werner Cohn. Florence: Arnaud, 1955
  • Nereo Alfieri, Paolo Enrico Arias : Spina: The newly discovered Etruscan city and the Greek vases of its graves . Translation by Werner Cohn. Recordings by Max Hirmer. Munich: Hirmer, 1958
  • Giuseppe Bovini: The churches of Ravenna . Translation by Werner Cohn. Munich: Goldmann, 1958
  • Giuseppe Liverani: Italian majolica . Translation by Werner Cohn. Cologne: DuMont Schauberg, 1960
  • Renzo Chiarelli: Verona: Art Guide . Translation by Werner Cohn. Florence: Arnaud, 1963

literature

  • Cohn, Werner , in: Ulrike Wendland: Biographical Handbook of German-Speaking Art Historians in Exile. Life and work of the scientists persecuted and expelled under National Socialism . Munich: Saur, 1999, pp. 95-98
  • Ulrich Middeldorf : In Memoriam Werner Cohn . Announcements from the Art History Institute in Florence. 9 (1959-1960), 3/4, pp. 265-266

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cohn, Werner
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German art historian
DATE OF BIRTH October 5, 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH 2nd September 1960
Place of death Florence