Middeldorf (Ulrich Alexander) study photographs of sculpture and minor arts, 1925-1980

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Summary

Title:

Ulrich Alexander Middeldorf study photographs of sculpture and minor arts

Dates:

1925-1980

Creators:

Middeldorf, Ulrich, 1901-1983

Abstract:

The study photographs of Ulrich Alexander Middeldorf, a German-American art historian, provide insight into how his work was conceived and organized. His principal publications concerned Tuscan sculptors of the quattrocento as well as bronzes, medals, and plaquettes. He was director of the Art Institute of Chicago, and, in Florence, served as director and librarian of the Kunsthistorisches Institut and director of the Longhi Institute.

Extent:

37 Linear Feet (ca. 30,000 photoprints, clippings, offprints, and notes in 74 boxes)

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

Ulrich Alexander Middeldorf study photographs of sculpture and minor arts, undated, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 83.P.3.

http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa83p3

Background

Scope and content:

This photo archive was assembled by art historian Ulrich Alexander Middeldorf between 1925-1980, with an emphasis on Renaissance sculpture, including bronzes. Italian works dominate the collection, but French and German works are also included. These working files lend insight into how Middeldorf conceived and organized his scholarly work. His principal publications concerned Tuscan sculptors of the quattrocento as well as bronzes, medals, and plaquettes.

Biographical / historical:

Ulrich Alexander Middeldorf (1901-1983) was a German-American art historian who specialized in the study of sculpture, medals, and the minor and applied arts. He was director of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fondazione Roberto Longhi, and then served as the director and librarian of the Kunsthistorisches Institut until his death in 1983.

In addition to his research specializations, Middeldorf had an abiding interest in Italian art, and a collector's passion for the connection between art and fiction. He assembled a collection of fiction, much of it popular, paperback works, which include characters or plot lines that relate to art (artists, art history, forgery, etc.). This collection of Art in Fiction was acquired by the Getty Research Institute Library in 1984. Middeldorf's correspondence with Sybille Pantazzi about his art in fiction collecting and other interests (1966-1983) may be seen in Special Collections Accession no. 950004.

Acquisition information:

The collection was acquired from Middeldorf's widow, Gloria, in 1983 at the recommendation of Laurie and Peter Fusco.

Processing information:

The collection was processed by Trisha Gessler, Amy Kennedy, and Florence Long in July 1992 and the finding aid prepared by Tracey Schuster in August 1992. Petra Warren encoded the finding aid in January 2021.

Archival sleeving, foldering, and boxing of the collection took place in July 1992 in the Photo Study Collection. Some rearranging of folders was done to improve consistency and clarity. The original order of the photographic files was recorded in a packing list that arrived with the collection. The list is available in the Photo Study Collection's Research file. The files were recategorized by the Getty Museum's Sculpture Department to facilitate scholarly access. Folder headings were copied from the headings on the original packing list, and presumably, the original folders.

Photographs are not dated exactly, and were taken by a multitude of European museums and private collectors.

The names of the artists represented in the collection have been entered into the Getty Library's Photo Study database and can be searched using the keyword "Middeldorf" on the database website: https://www.getty.edu/research/tools/photo/index.html.

Arrangement:

Archive is arranged into four series: Series I. Artists; Series II. Regional schools; Series III. Subject files; Series IV. Puzzles and fakes.

Physical location:

Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the catalog record for this collection. Click here for the access policy.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: Decorative arts
Sculpture, Italian
Sculpture, French
Sculpture, German
Sculpture, Renaissance
Black-and-white prints (photographs)
Clippings -- 20th century

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:: Petra Warren
Date Encoded:: This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-09-25 08:47:17 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:: Open for use by qualified researchers.
Terms of access:: Contact Library Reproductions and Permissions.