Wendy E. Cullings History of Art-Theory and Methodology Professor Diana Gisolfi December 17, 2008. Meyer Schapiro (1904-1996): His Life in Brief Born as Meir Schapiro in Lithuania in 1904, he immigrated to the United States at the age of 3 to avoid the harassment that Jewish people were often subjected in his home country. Changing his name mane to Meyer at Ellis Island, Schapiro considered New York City to be his home from this point forward. From a very early age he expressed a desire to be an artist and as child in Brooklyn he was able to take sculpture classes at the Hebrew Settlement House. However, Meyer was convinced that he was not talented enough to pursue a career as an artist and soon turned to academia. He enrolled in Columbia College at the age of 16, and by 20 had graduated with honors in both art history and philosophy. It was at Columbia that Schapiro would help to mold the form of art history as we know it today. He began lecturing there at the age of 28, before he had even finished his dissertation, and continued until his retirement in 1973. As a preeminent teacher, Schapiro introduced art history to the core curriculum before it had been added by the administration. He became assistant professor there in 1936, associate professor in 1946, full professor in 1952 and university professor in 1965. In 1973, he was named university professor emeritus and went to Columbia once a week to teach the graduate course “Theory and Methods of Investigation in Art.” During his career he also taught at NYU and the New School for Social Research, where his lectures were often attended by young artists living and working in New York City. In reading about Schapiro, it becomes obvious that his presence in the New York City art world was monumental. Artist after artist recount stories of how he helped to shape their young career or to push past blocks they were experiencing. One such anecdote of this type involves Schapiro convincing the young Willem de Kooning that his recently completed “Woman 1” was not a failure. Besides his immense and caring role with students and artists, it is the unparalleled intellect of Meyer Schapiro that is his primary legacy. Friends and colleagues describe in detail his precise memory and ability to recall and link facts and data about numerous subjects together with ease. Perhaps this is why the writing of Schapiro is so engaging and educational, without being didactic. He effortlessly 11 weaves together histories of art objects and paintings with their cultural, societal, and historical context. Never satisfied to specialize in one area of fine art, Schapiro wrote profusely about not only about Romanesque art in Spain and France or about Illuminated manuscripts in the British Isles, but also about the merits of Modern Art and the Avant-Garde. Working through a period in art history when the formalism of Clement Greenberg ruled, the often dissenting voice of Meyer Schapiro was always there to provide the societal and cultural significance of a work of art. The many merits and awards that Schapiro has received only confirm his already great legacy. In 1973 he was given an Award by the Art Dealers Association of America. In 1975 he was given Columbia Colleges highest award, the Alexander Hamilton Medal for distinguished service and accomplishment, and in 1978 the Meyer Schapiro Professorship of Art History was established. ToTo commemorate his 90thth birthday, his brother donated $1 million to establish the Meyer Schapiro Professorship of Modern Art and Theory. Even with the achievements of a genius, Schapiro always seemed humble. In interviews he always appeared more interested in research and facts than his own ego. At the beginning of each of his volumes he profusely thanks his wife, Dr. Lilliam Milgram, who was his librarian, amanuensis, assistant, and partner. Meyer Schapiro stands today as one of the greatest contributors to the history of art. Bibliography for Biography of Meyer Schapiro “Meyer Schapiro.” C250 Celebrates Columbians Ahead of their Times. http://c250.columbia.edu/c250_celebrates/remarkable_columbians/meyer_schapiro.html (accessed December 16, 2008). Russell, J. “Meyer Schapiro, Art Historian and Critic, Dies at 90,”” New York Times, March 4, 1996, Obituaries. “Schapiro, Meyer.” Oxford Art Online. http://www.oxfordartonline.com.ezproxy.pratt.edu:2048/subscriber/article/grove/art/T076403 ?q=schapiro%2C+meyer&hbutton_search.x=0&hbutton_search.y=0&hbutton_search=search&s ource=oao_gao&source=oao_t118&source=oao_t234&source=oao_t4&search=quick&pos=1&_ start=1#firsthit.. (accessed December 16, 2008). 22 Key to Books Viewed PRATT-Pratt Institute Main Library, Brooklyn Campus NYPL-New York Public Library Humanities Library, 42nd Street, Manhattan NYPLMM-New York Public Library Mid-Manhattan Branch, 40th Street, Manhattan JSTOR-Online Database of journal articles accessed through Pratt Library’s E-Reference site. -Unless noted with one of these designations, works were not seen. A Note on the Critical Bibliography Creating a biography to do justice to the immense career of Meyer Schapiro was daunting to say the least. I began my quest using the online database, Worldcat. While this was an extremely helpful resource, I found many of the citations to be incomplete or inaccurate. I then attempted to locate original journal articles within databases such as JSTOR of Art Full-Text, and this did help to answer many questions that I had. At the very end of the project I discovered the printed version of Schapiro’s bibliography, published by his wife Dr. Lillian Milgram in 1995. This proved invaluable in filling in gaps of information that would otherwise be inaccessible. I decided to include some of her notes about works that Schapiro had decided to remove his name from and also works that he published under pseudonyms. Her book was also extremely helpful when determining the reprinting and editioning of many of Schapiro’s more prominent texts (such as those on Van Gogh and Gauguin). I have noted with an asterisk* in my bibliography where I have used text from her bibliography that was otherwise inaccessible to me. I thought it appropriate to include her text to give a richer and fuller picture of the works of this superior art historian. Sources Referenced While Compiling Bibliography Art-Full Text Database. Offered through H.W. Wilson Co. (Accessed numerous times through Pratt Library’s E-Reference Page). JSTOR. Offered by the Mellon Foundation. (Accessed numerous times through Pratt Library’s E- Reference Page). Schapiro, Lillian Milgram, compiler. Meyer Schapiro: The Bibliography . New York: George Braziller, 1995. Worldcat Database. (Accessed numerous times through Pratt Library’s E-Reference Page). 3 Meyer Schapiro: A Critical Bibliography 1925 “On Emanuel Lowry’s Rendering of Nature in Early Greek Art” (Die Naturwiedergabe in der alteren Griechischen Kunst; Rome, 1900; London, 1907). The Arts 8 (September 1925): 170-72. 1928 “ Art in the Contemporary World .” In An Introduction to Contemporary Civilization in the West, edited by John J. Coss, John Fennelly, Joseph B. McGoldrick, and Irving W. Raymond, 271-317. New York: Columbia University Press, 1928. 1929 “The Romanesque Sculpture of Moissac,” Parts 1, 2, and 3. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia University May 1929. Printed in Selected Papers 1 (1977), 131-264. Reprinted as The Sculpture of Moissac (New York: George Braziller, 1985). “The South Transept Portal of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse.” Parnassus 1, no. 3 (1929): 22-23. 1931 “Mr. Rosenfeld and Matisse.” Letter to The Nation, December 30, 1931, 725. 1932 “Matisse and Impressionism.” Androcles (Columbia College, New York) 1, no. 1 (February 1932): 21-36. *“The New Architecture” Review of exhibition of modern architecture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, published under the pseudonym John Kwait (M.S.’s meternal grandmother’s name). New Masses, May 1932, 23. * “Engels on Goethe.” Excerpts from the translation of an 1847 article, with introduction and comment by M.S. (anonymous). New Masses, September 1932, 13-14. *“Architecture under Capitalism.” A critique of the architectural magazine Shelter published under the pseudonym John Kwait. New Masses, December 1932, 10-13. “Architects and the Crisis. An Open Letter to the Architects, Draughtsmen, and Technicians of America.” Architects’ Committee of League of Professional Groups for Foster and Ford. Pamphlet, unsigned, 1932. 4 1933 *“John Reed Club Art Exhibition.” Reviewed under the pseudonym John Kwait. New Masses, February 1933, 23-24. 1934 “On Lewis Mumford: Technics and Civilization” (New York, 1934). New Masses, July 4, 1934, 25. “Pottery.” In Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 12:280-83. New York: Maxmillan: 1934. “Taste.” In Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 14:523-25. New York: Macmillan, 1934. 1935 “ Seurat and La Grande Jatte.” Columbia Review 17 (November 1935): 9-17. “New Documents in St.-Gilles.” Art Bulletin 17, no. 4 (December 1935): 414-31. Reprinted in Selected Papers I (1977), 328-46. JSTOR In this article Schapiro sets out to offer evidence of the date of the façade of St.-Gilles. He says that the date of the monument is important to students of Mediaeval art because it is a central monument of a proto-renaissance. He discusses some of the previous problems with assigning the date. Schapiro concludes that the majority of work was done at St.-Gilles between 1135 and 1142, with the earliest styles having been completed in 1129. “Art Education.” Art Education Today I (1935): 77-78. , R. Meyer Riefstahl, and M. Crane. Islamic Art (Selective Bibliography), 1935. 1936 “Race, Nationality and Art.” Art Front 2 (March 1936): 10-12. “The New Viennese School.” Review of Kunstwissenschaftliche Foschungen, vol. 2, edited by Otto Pacht (Berlin and Frankfurt, 1922), Art Bulletin 18, no.