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Porter (Arthur Kingsley) Study Photographs of Romanesque Architecture and Sculpture
91.P.4
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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Arthur Kingsley Porter study photographs of Romanesque architecture and sculpture
Creator:
Porter, Arthur Kingsley, 1883-1933
Creator:
Paton, James Morton, 1863-1944
Identifier/Call Number: 91.P.4
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet
(14 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1900s
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 .
Abstract: An assortment of approximately 2000 photographic copy prints made from Arthur
Kingsley Porter's negatives, now held by the Fine Arts Library, Harvard University. Images document medieval architecture
and sculpture across Europe,
with an emphasis on Romanesque monuments in France and Italy, as well as some images of Spanish and Portuguese sites.
Language of Material:
English .
The complete set of Arthur Kingsley Porter's negatives, with contact prints and selected enlargements, is held by Harvard
University (HOLLIS number
000601589).
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection comprises an assortment of approximately 2,000 photographic prints made from Arthur Kingsley Porter's negatives,
now held by the Fine
Arts Library, Harvard University. Almost 12,000 photographic negatives were made by Porter as illustrations for his ten-volume
work,
Romanesque Sculpture of the Pilgrimage Roads (Boston, 1923) and his other publications. These images capture medieval
architecture and sculpture across Europe, with emphasis on Romanesque monuments and architectural sculpture in France and
Italy. Porter's photographs
provide critical documentation of the state of preservation of hundreds of medieval sites in the early twentieth century.
Many of the monuments and
sculptures recorded have undergone steady deterioration since then, suffered war damage, or disappeared into private collections.
These images also
address the development of the discipline of art history in America, as Porter's photographic work served as a basis for his
controversial theories of
the migration of forms and styles.
In 1991 as part of the development of the Medieval section of the Photo Archive, the Getty Research Institute negotiated with
Harvard University to
acquire enlarged prints of Porter's negatives. Harvard holds a complete set of contact prints of Porter's negatives for research
purposes, but only
selected enlargements, and Dumbarton Oaks holds selected prints, primarily of Byzantine monuments. The intention was for the
Getty to acquire a complete
set of enlargements, making it the only institution to hold such a research tool. However, when the project lapsed in 1992,
the Getty had received only
about 2000 prints. The Getty prints include all the large negatives in Porter's collection, plus selections from the nitrate
and the medium-sized
negatives, a body of material reflecting Harvard's production flow rather than image content categories. Photocopies of Harvard's
catalog records
accompany and identify each image.
A small number of photographs drawn from other sources are also included in this collection. There are twenty-eight prints
made from negatives in the
James M. Paton Photograph Collection also held by Harvard University (HOLLIS number 010880186) and fifty other photographs
from the general photographic
holdings of the Fogg Museum, as well as documentation of a small display of Porter's photographs at the Getty Research Institute
in 1994.
Jan Bender created the collection inventory in 2013 and Ann Harrison completed the finding aid.
Arthur Kingsley Porter study photographs of Romanesque architecture and sculpture, 1900s, The Getty Research Institute, Los
Angeles, Accession no.
91.P.4
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa91p4
Photographs and permission to publish must be obtained from copyright holder(s). For further information, contact
Library Reproductions and Permissions .
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Arthur Kingsley Porter (1883-1933) was a medieval archaeologist, and art and architectural historian. Through his numerous
publications and his post as
a professor at Harvard, Porter was instrumental in establishing the study of medieval art history in the United States.
The summer after graduating from Yale in 1904, Porter discovered his passion for architecture, especially medieval architecture,
on a trip to France.
That fall instead of beginning to study law as had been expected, Porter enrolled in the Columbia University School of Architecture.
While there,
Porter's focus soon shifted from the practice of architecture to architectural history. In 1906, Porter left Columbia to begin
work on his first book,
entering the life-long pattern of travel, research and writing that his family wealth allowed.
By the beginning of World War I, Porter had spent extended periods of time in Europe studying medieval monuments, had published
three books and gained
a certain international scholarly recognition. This success led to his appointment first as a lecturer on the history of architecture
in 1915, and then,
after completing a BFA degree in 1917, as an assistant professor at Yale.
In the aftermath of the war in 1918, Porter took a leave from Yale, accepting an invitation, the only one offered to a foreigner,
to serve on the
French governmental
Commission des Monuments Historiques documenting damaged and endangered monuments. During this time
Porter met and became friends with Bernard Berenson. This connection was presumably a factor in Porter joining the Harvard
Fine Arts faculty upon his
return to the United States in 1920.
Porter's years at Harvard were a professional success on many levels. He published consistently; he acquired medieval art
and artifacts for the Fogg
Museum; and he was appointed to an endowed chair in 1925. Porter's time at Harvard was marked by his influence on and mentoring
of a new generation of
art historians at Harvard and other institutions, including Kenneth Conant, Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Meyer Schapiro. He
also continued his European
sojourns. The years from 1923-1925 were spent on leave in France and Spain, teaching and lecturing.
Porter brought international recognition to the study of medieval art and architectural history in the United States. In his
publications, he tackled
large questions, such as the origin of the rib vault, the nature and transmission of artistic influence, and attribution,
and he challenged the current
systems of chronology and classification. His interdisciplinary approach was well ahead of its time and he was an ardent advocate
of the use of
photography as an art historical tool. Assisted by his wife Lucy, he photographed prodigiously during his travels in Europe,
often using hotel bathrooms
and closets as darkrooms, and these photographs were integral to his scholarship. His publication
Romanesque Sculpture of the
Pilgrimage Roads
, for example, used 1527 photographic plates to illustrate circa 350 pages of text, or one volume of text with nine volumes
of
plates. Porter's theories were controversial and elicited a strong reaction, especially from French academics, but this meant
that he, an American
scholar, was taking part in the intellectual debates previously held exclusively among European medievalists.
Yet, Porter was unhappy. He considered quitting Harvard as early as 1929. By the early 1930s Porter had developed a new passion
for Celtic culture and
was spending most of the year in Ireland, a refuge from what he saw as the growing political and moral decay of the United
States, as well as personal
turmoil and professional danger related to his homosexuality. On July 8 1933 Porter disappeared while walking the sea cliffs
near his house in Ireland
and was presumed dead, a victim of an accidental fall or a suicide.
Arranged culturally/geographically.
Acquired from Harvard University in 1991-1992.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Sculpture, Medieval
Architecture, Romanesque -- France
Architecture, Romanesque -- Italy
Sculpture, Romanesque -- Italy
Architecture, Medieval
Photographic prints
Sculpture, Romanesque -- France
Porter, Arthur Kingsley, 1883-1933 -- Photograph collections