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Anna Spitzmüller (1903–2001), the first female custodian at the Albertina Museum in Vienna
Full text linkThe following paper by Ursula Drahoss was first presented at the conference “Great Female Art Historians” organized by Heidrun Rosenberg at the Austrian Association of Art Historians (VöKK) from November 4th to 7th 2021. The art historian Anna Spitzmüller (1903–2001) is considered Austria’s very first woman curator. Spitzmüller worked at the Collection of Graphic at the Albertina from 1927 to 1954 and then switched to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, from where she retired in 1968. In her article, Ursula Drahoss will take a closer look at Spitzmüller’s professional experiences. It can be seen that art historians, despite similar starting points, ended up in different positions in the museum of their time. Besides the analyses and interpretation of biographic data, archival documents, the author will also include Spitzmüller’s subjective experiences from oral history sources
Helena Blum (1904-1984) — a Polish art historian in the gender gap
Full text linkHelena Blum (1904–84) was one of the most influential Polish art historians, working both as a curator at the National Museum in Cracow and as a researcher at the Institute of Art History at the University of Wrocław. In 1922, she began studying art history and archeology at the University in Lviv. Ten years later, Blum received his doctorate from this university. This was the first dissertation on modern art in Poland. In the 1930s she also studied in France. Blum was one of the key figures in Polish art history after the Second World War. Although she never became director of the National Museum in Kraków, as curator she built up the collection of Polish art in that museum, which was very much influenced by her own taste. Her distinctive curatorial strategies and art criticism influenced the so-called canon of Polish art from 1800 to 1970
A matter of timing: the modern history of a ‘Sasanian’ silver plate from Rashy
Full text linkAfter the recent publication of two previously unknown “Sasanian” silver plates depicting the renowned scene of the chariot of the Lunar God Mah, added to the other five known examples, this article reconsiders one specimen of this series of objects – here addressed as the “Rashy plate” –, the authenticity of which appears questionable. Three parameters are considered for discussing this plate: iconography, manufacturing technique and provenance, and all of them are contextualised in the period of the great exhibitions of Persian Art (between the 1930s and the 1960s). The outcome of these exhibitions, besides stimulating scholarly research on previously understudied artistic productions, was the consequent rising interest by museums and private collectors in art objects from the ancient Iranian world. The introduction of possible forgeries, such as the Rashy plate, coherently fits into this increasing demand of the art market
The Politics of Parking: Encounters with strangers inaccessible parking spaces. Summary report from Blue Badge holder survey
Full text linkThis report presents and discusses the results of a survey of 304 disabled Blue Badge holders on their encounters with strangers in accessible parking spaces. The report explores the types of encounters that take place, the factors that may influence the encounters, strategies used by disabled people to navigate encounters, and the impact they have on disabled people over time. This is followed by a discussion of how stereotypes of disability affect how disabled people can behave in spaces, the impact of anti-austerity discourse, and the cumulative impact of many small-scale encounters over time
‘Another way of telling the story’. Review of: Sources in Irish Art 2: A Reader, edited by Fintan Cullen and Róisín Kennedy, Cork: Cork University Press, 2021, 424pp., 21 illus., €39.00 hdbk, £20.70 Kindle, ISBN: 9781782054573.
Full text linkThis review considers Sources in Irish Art 2: A Reader, edited by Fintan Cullen and Róisín Kennedy, as a key contribution to the historiography of Irish art. This book, which includes excerpts of texts on Irish art and visual culture from the mid-seventeenth to the early twenty-first centuries, provides readers with a valuable guide to the multiplicity of printed materials. These texts include letters, exhibition catalogue essays, and artist statements, as well as art historical reflections. As such, the book points to the importance of broad archival practices in the field of Irish art history. The review essay is prefaced with an overview of the past decade of publishing on Irish art, architecture, and visual studies, making the point that a book like Sources in Irish Art 2: A Reader provides an important map to the intellectual roots of many current debates
Introduction: Old threads woven into new dimensions
Full text linkThe following articles contributed to the international conference: ´Great Women Art Historians’, coordinated by the Association of Austrian Art Historians in November 2021 at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The introduction develops the theme of the conference through the lens of the art historiography of the Vienna School, tracing how and why the history of three generations of women art historians was wiped out
Friderike Klauner (1916–1993) Director of the Picture Gallery and First Director of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien A biographical sketch
Full text link50 years ago, a woman headed Austria’s largest art museum for the first time. For eight years, Friderike Klauner managed the affairs of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna with untiring commitment. She introduced some innovations, but also preserved traditions in order to make the valuable, formerly imperial art collection accessible to the interested public in various forms. This essay attempts a biographical approach to the successful art historian. It explores her career and her professional achievements. It wonders why so little has been published about her so far and finally asks what still remains of Friderike Klauner to this day
Towards a modern museum. Women in the German museum association
Full text linkThe German Museums Association (Deutscher Museumsbund, DMB), founded in 1917, was made up of a few directors. Between 1927 and 1934, the men’s circle opened up to 14 woman employees, who represented the hierarchy of museum staff across the board, from unskilled workers to collection managers to directors. However, the association was also important for female academics who turned to the office as job seekers. Thanks to the preserved applications, including CVs and references, sent to the DMB by female museum service candidates, another dozen little-known or forgotten female actors in the historical art and museum world can be identified.
By looking at these early museum women, it can be shown that rigid structures of the institution based on asymmetrical gender relations were set in motion shortly before the staff was replaced on a large scale under National Socialism. The social change in the museums, which the women art historians in the association’s environment had helped to bring about, has probably been lost from view, not least because of this
Ernst Gombrich and the concept of ‘ill-defined area’: perception and filling-in
Full text linkThis essay analyses the concept of ‘ill-defined area’ that Ernst Gombrich (1909–2001) coined in Art & Illusion: A Study in the Psychology of Pictorial Representation (1960). Gombrich’s insights, seen in light of recent advances in the fields of experimental psychology and cognitive neuroscience, open up new perspectives in the study of images: the biological implications of image perception. Under examination are two specific types of images: partially visible figures and unfinished works of art, that is, open-ended images that distinguish themselves in their inclusion of a significant absence (hence, ‘ill-defined area’), suggested by incomplete forms. These images offer important indications about the role that the beholder’s imagination plays in aesthetic response. In addressing this issue, this study focuses on the representation of human figures that either have features covered or no faces. In the second case, Gombrich talks about the ‘egg shape formula’, and tackles the way beholders perceive it. Considering the neuroscientific research on face perception and filling-in, this paper explores the neural process through which beholders may complete in their minds the blank spaces present in incomplete figures. My argument is that it is possible to find the neural underpinning of imagination, which is at the base of the aesthetic experience of beholders when perceiving figures that are not entirely visible
UK Rail Freight and Emissions
Full text linkFreight transport (movement of goods and bulk cargo) plays a fundamental role in supporting supply chains both domestically and internationally. The strategic importance of the UK freight sector was signified by the inclusion of logistics workers as “key workers” during the COVID-19 pandemic [1]. International freight is also vital for the UK economy which is highly reliant on international trade; the trade-to-GDP ratio stood at 55% during the year 2021 [2]. To achieve the UK’s net zero target, the inland freight sector will need to rapidly decarbonise, including modal shift from road to rail and harnessing advances in new technology. This policy briefing note outlines the status of rail freight in the UK, considering benefits of a modal shift from road to rail. It also identifies future interventions that could decarbonise the UK’s freight sector by 2050, with benefits for health and wider society
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