Leo Steinberg
Leo Steinberg (July 9, 1920 – March 13, 2011) was an American
Life
Steinberg was born in
In 1945, encouraged by his older sister and her husband, Steinberg moved to New York City. For years he made a living writing art criticism and teaching art, including at the Parsons School of Design. In 1957, William Kolodney invited Steinberg to give a lecture series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Change and Permanence in Western Art" focused on ten periods of art, dealing with problems or solutions with special relevance to modern thought and taste.[2]
The importance of his criticism of modern art was proven by his being included in
Steinberg approached the history of art in a revolutionary manner, helping to move it from a dry consideration of factual details, documents, and iconographic symbols to a more dynamic understanding of meaning conveyed via various artistic choices. For example, in 1972, Steinberg introduced the idea of the "flatbed picture plane" in his book Other Criteria, a collection of essays.
Steinberg's collection of 3,200 prints is held at The Leo Steinberg Collection, Blanton Museum of Art,
Personal life
In 1962 Steinberg married Dorothy Seiberling, an art editor for Life magazine; the marriage ended in divorce. For more than 40 years, Sheila Schwartz was his "indispensable collaborator",[8] assistant and editor.[9] Steinberg had no children.[10][11]
Awards
- 1983 Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters[12]
- 1984, Frank Jewett Mather Award in Art Journalism, College Art Association
- 1986 MacArthur Fellows Program
Thesis
Steinberg's research particularly focused on the works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and other Italian Renaissance artists and their depictions of Christ in art. As a critic, he produced important work on Pablo Picasso, Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning. One of his most significant essays was Contemporary Art and the Plight of its Public, which appeared in March 1962 in Harper's Magazine.
Steinberg took an informal approach to criticism, sometimes using a first-person narrative in his essays, which personalized the experience of art for readers. This was in juxtaposition to many formalist critics at the time, such as Clement Greenberg, who were known to be resolute in their writing.
Works
- Renaissance and Baroque Art: Selected Essays, edited by Sheila Schwartz (University of Chicago Press, 2020).
- Michelangelo's Painting: Selected Essays, edited by Sheila Schwartz (University of Chicago Press, 2019).
- Michelangelo's Sculpture: Selected Essays, edited by Sheila Schwartz (University of Chicago Press, 2018).
- Leo Steinberg: Selections
- Other Criteria: Confrontations with Twentieth Century Art, (Oxford University Press, 1972; reprinted University of Chicago Press, 2007).
- "Pontormo's Capponi Chapel." Art Bulletin 56, no. 3 (1974): 385–399.
- "Borromini's San Carlo alle quattro fontane: A Study in Multiple Form and Architectural Symbolism (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1960). Garland Publishing, 1977.
- The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion. (Pantheon, 1983; revised edition University of Chicago Press, 1996.)
- Leonardo's Incessant Last Supper (Zone Books, 2001).
- "Contemporary Art and the Plight of its Public" Harper's 224 no. 1,342 (March 1962): 31–39.
References
- ^ Johnson, Ken (March 14, 2011). "Leo Steinberg, Art Historian, Dies at 90". www.nytimes.com. Retrieved March 15, 2011.
- ^ "Art History Lecture Courses: 1957–1958", season program, p. 3, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- ^ The Art Story: Art Critic - Leo Steinberg
- ^ Steinberg, Leo (February 13, 1975). Other criteria: Confrontations with Twentieth-Century Art. Oxford University Press.
- ^ The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, October, No. 25, (Summer) 1983
- ^ "Honorary degrees are awarded" Archived 2013-10-21 at the Wayback Machine, Harvard University, June 8, 2006
- ^ Inventory of the Leo Steinberg Research Papers
- ^ Steinberg, Leo; Cándida Smith, Richard; Getty Center for the History of Art and the Humanities, compiler; J. Paul Getty Trust, publisher (2001). The gestural trace : Leo Steinberg. Getty Research Institute.
- ^ https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-new-york-review-of-books/20181206/281565176779129. Retrieved 2019-01-06 – via PressReader.
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(help) - ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
- ^ Rykwert, Joseph (2011-04-12). "Leo Steinberg obituary". the Guardian. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
- ^ "Leo Steinberg, Reed College Stephen E. Ostrow Distinguished Visitor". academic.reed.edu. Archived from the original on June 29, 2011. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
- ^ Steinberg, Leo (February 13, 1975). Other criteria: confrontations with twentieth-century art. Reflections on the state of criticism: Oxford University press.
- ^ Kostelanetz, Richard (March 4, 2019). A Dictionary of the American Avant-Gardes. Leo Steinberg: Routledge.
External links
- " A Chat with Leo Steinberg", Artnet, Charlie Finch.
- "Expanded Text of Leo Steinberg Interview", The Washington Post, Blake Gopnik, October 5, 2008.
- "Leo's 'Last Supper': An Exchange", The New York Review of Books, Volume 49, Number 17, November 7, 2002.