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INVENTORY OF THE LEO STEINBERG RESEARCH PAPERS, 1945-1996,
bulk 1950-1993
930046
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Table of contents
Title: Leo Steinberg research papers
Date (inclusive): 1945-1996
Date (bulk): 1950-1993
Collection number: 930046
Creator:
Steinberg, Leo, 1920-
Extent:
ca. 12 linear ft.
(28
boxes)
Repository:
Getty Research Institute
Research Library
Special Collections and Visual Resources
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 1100
Los Angeles, CA
90049-1688
Abstract: Art historian, critic, lecturer, and professor. The papers consist of research notes, correspondence relating to Steinberg's
lectures and essays, papers written by his students, several versions of some of his essays, an abandoned dissertation project,
and many of his notebooks from courses he took at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York. The archive reflects Steinberg's career
as an art critic, lecturer, and teacher, ca. 1945-ca.1996.
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Language: Collection material in English
Open for use by qualified researchers.
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Library Rights and Reproductions
Leo Steinberg research papers, 1945-1996
(bulk 1950-1993), Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no.
930046.
Received from Leo Steinberg, in two acquisitions, 1993, 1996.
Jocelyn Gibbs processed and wrote a box list for the first acquisition
(accession no. 930046). A supplementary acquisition (accession no. 960096) was
moved to this collection and processed by Rose Lachman.
Leo Steinberg, art historian, critic, lecturer and professor, was born
in Russia in 1920 and lived in Berlin and London before emigrating to the
United States in 1938. After studying at the Slade School of Art in London, he
entered the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University in the mid-1950s
(Ph.D., 1960), where he studied art and architecture with historians Harry
Bober, Richard Krautheimer, Karl Lehmann, Wolfgang Lotz, Erwin Panofsky, Alfred
Salmony and Charles Sterling. In 1958 and 1959 he was a guest of the American
Academy in Rome, where he researched and wrote his dissertation on the baroque
architect Francesco Borromini.
Steinberg taught drawing and art history at Hunter College and the
Graduate Center of the City University of New York from 1961 to 1975, and ended
his teaching career as Benjamin Franklin Professor at the University of
Pennsylvania (1975-1991). His lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the
Studio School in New York, Columbia University, and elsewhere attracted a broad
audience of artists, art lovers and scholars. As an art critic, he is known for
his writings on historical subjects and individual artists, as well as on
modern and contemporary art subjects.
Published works range from short reviews and essays to book-length
studies and include
San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, a study in multiple form and
architectual symbolism
, 1960;
Jasper Johns, 1963;
Other Criteria, 1972 (compilation of 18 essays);
Michelangelo's last paintings, the Conversion of St. Paul and the
Crucifixion of St. Peter in the Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace
, 1975;
The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance art and in modern
oblivion
, 1983.
Leo Steinberg is the first art historian to receive the Award in
Literature from the American Academy and the Institute for Arts and Letters
(1983). He also received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art
Criticism from the College Art Association (1984), and a MacArthur Fellowship
(1986).
Scope and Content of Collection
The Leo Steinberg Research Papers consist of research notes,
correspondence relating to his lectures and essays, papers written by his
students, several versions of some of his essays, an abandoned dissertation
project, and many of his notebooks from courses he took at the Institute of
Fine Arts, New York University. The archive reflects Steinberg's career as an
art critic, lecturer and teacher from ca. 1945-ca. 1996. Correspondence from
ca.1993-1996 consists mainly of letters and notes by Steinberg about the
archive.
The research notes and course notebooks, which contain numerous
photographs, give a clear picture of Steinberg's topics of interest. The
artists he concentrated on include Francesco Borromini, Auguste Rodin and
Titian (boxes 1-8). The correspondence deals mostly with lectures he gave at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art and elsewhere (boxes 9-10); the publication
series refers almost exclusively to the essays compiled in his book
Other Criteria (boxes 11 and 12, the latter an audio
tape). The abandoned dissertation,
Afterlife of Romanesque, reflects his interest in
romanesque art and architecture under the influence of his professor, Richard
Krautheimer (box 13); and the course notebooks contain his notes from his
student days with such distinguished art historians as Erwin Panofsky, Richard
Krautheimer, Charles Sterling, Karl Lehmann, Alfred Salmony, Harry Bober and
Wolfgang Lotz (boxes 14-28).
Arrangement
The papers are organized in 7 series:
Series I.
Borromini research, 1953-1993 (bulk 1953-1960)
Series
II. Rodin research, 1962-1977
Series
III. Titian research, 1965-1986
Series
IV. Correspondence and lectures, 1952-1995
Series V.
Publications: Manuscripts and Letters, 1962-1996
Series
VI. Abandoned dissertation, 1956
Series
VII. Course notes, 1950-1963
Borromini, Francesco, 1599-1667
Johns, Jasper, 1930-
Rodin, Auguste,1840-1917
Titian, ca. 1488-1576
Art critics—United States
Art historians—United States
Art—History—Study and teaching (Graduate)—United States
Art, Modern—History
Notebooks
Photographic prints
Photographs, Original
Barr, Margaret Scolari, 1901-1987
Bober, Harry, 1915-
Canaday, John, 1907-
Chastel, André, 1912-
Cohen, Gerson D. (Gerson David), 1924-
D'Harnoncourt, Rene, 1901-1968
Goldwater, Robert John, 1907-1973
Held, Julius Samuel, 1905-
Janson, H. W. (Horst Woldemar), 1913-
Kitzinger, Ernst, 1912-
Kramer, Hilton
Krautheimer, Richard, 1897-
Lavin, Irving, 1927-
Lehmann, Karl, 1894-1960
Leider, Philip, 1929-
Lotz, Wolfgang, 1912-
Lowry, Bates, 1923-
Michelson, Annette
Panofsky, Erwin, 1892-1968
Salmony, Alfred, 1890-1958
Sterling, Charles, 1901-
Weissberger, Herbert, 1892-
Wittkower, Rudolf
Art journal (New York, N.Y.)
Arts (New York (New York, N.Y.)