Download PDF | Byzantine East, Latin West: Art Historical Studies in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann (Princeton 1995).
772 Pages
Preface
THE PUBLICATION of Byzantine East, Latin West: Art-Historical Studies in Honor of Kurt Weitzmann fills a long-standing need to acknowledge a great scholar and to place in the right perspective his contribution as a teacher and patriarchal force in the promotion of research throughout the world. Encompassing the Hellenistic, Roman, and medieval periods in Byzantium and Western Europe, the seventy studies published here reflect the broad spectrum of Weitzmann’s scholarly interests. As he explained in a 1984 interview, “I never became a Byzantinist in the strict sense of the word. I am rather an art historian who deals with medieval art at large and with late classical, Early Christian, and Byzantine art in particular.”
Unlike so many other scholars for whom the ivory tower became a convenient option at a very young age, Weitzmann explored libraries and museums everywhere and over the years collected an extraordinary amount of virtually unknown material, which he subsequently studied. Suffice it to mention his visits to Mount Athos in the 1930s and to Mount Sinai in the late '50s and early '60s. In addition to using some of this amazingly rich material in works of a methodological nature, such as his I//ustrations in Roll and Codex (Princeton 1947, rev. ed. 1970), Weitzmann presented a vast part of this documentation in corpora. Pertinent examples are his publication of Byzantine ivories (in collaboration with Adolph Goldschmidt [Berlin 1932—34}), his Byzantinische Buchmalerei (Berlin 1935), the first volume of the corpus of the Sinai icons (Princeton 1976), and the first volume of the illuminated Sinai manuscripts (in collaboration with George Galavaris [Princeton 1990]).
In the history of medieval studies it is very difficult to refer to another scholar who approached such an overwhelming quantity of unpublished material stemming from the most varied traditions and was able to decode its substantial intrinsic qualities. A scholar of great vision, Weitzmann was at the same time always eager to engage himself in big projects such as the monumental 1977 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century." Kurt Weitzmann was prepared for all these endeavors by his amazing education, which encompassed the study of art history and classical philology, as well as archaeology.
The information on the art-historical material collected by Kurt Weitzmann, his photographic prints, and the scholarly advice he offered so generously were made available to students and scholars from all over the world. Weitzmann also devoted considerable time to answering a vast number of letters addressed to him and to receiving numerous visitors wishing to discuss scholarly problems with him and to study his photographic material. His office in the Department of Art and Archaeology at Princeton became a welcoming place for visiting scholars of all ages. Moreover, during his visits to Europe he was always surrounded by colleagues and students. It is hard to find another scholar whose assistance is so often acknowledged in studies or whose name is so frequently cited in bibliographies. The wide-ranging importance attached to Weitzmann’s publications is indicated by the appearance of Italian, Spanish, and Japanese translations of his [//ustrations in Roll and Codex and by the reprinting of his Byzantinische Buchmalerei in Bulgaria.
As professor of art and archaeology at Princeton for some thirty-five years, he contributed in a fundamental way to the promotion of the study of medieval art history both in this country and abroad, by training his Princeton students to become specialists in Byzantium and the Latin West and by offering art-historical materials and constant assistance to students from other universities.
An impressive number of papers in the present volume bear witness to the educational role of this great teacher. The predominant impression one gets in reviewing the names of those who have contributed to this volume, their countries of origin, and the topics treated is that the international community of art historians has wholeheartedly expressed the desire to offer a tribute of respect and gratitude to Kurt Weitzmann, a scholar who has opened so many new fields of research in our studies and who has made available an enormous treasury of materials through his numerous publications.
As a result, he has made it possible for other scholars to advance their work in areas that are on the whole poorly documented because of tremendous losses through the ages. Above all, this volume of arthistorical studies reveals the impact of the humanistic side of his personality, his extraordinary resources of energy, and the seriousness of the scholarly research to which he has dedicated his entire life.
This dedication explains his youthful enthusiasm and passion when dealing with his research and also his persistent need to communicate his enthusiasm to others. The present publication, which is a valuable contribution to scholar ship in its own right, constitutes a long due tribute to Kurt Weitzmann for the role he played throughout his lifetime in the shaping and promotion of medieval studies.
Doula Mouriki
Doula Mouriki-Charalambous died on November 25, 1991, soon after her work on this book was completed. As late as two weeks before that, she was still at work on the volume in her hospital bed, writing the preface, consulting the editorial board on myriad details, and seeking publication subsidies. Byzantine East, Latin West attests to its chief editor's courage and scholarly commitment, and above all, to her deep affection for and dedication to Kurt Weitzmann.
Link
Press Here
0 التعليقات :
إرسال تعليق