The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (368 page)
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Pevsner , Sir Nikolaus
(1902–83).
German-born British art historian. He worked at the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden and taught at Göttingen University (1929–33) before moving to England because of the rise of Nazism. In England he was
Slade
Professor at both Oxford and Cambridge universities and also professor at Birkbeck College in the University of London. He is best known for his writings on architecture, above all for the celebrated series of county-by-county guides
The Buildings of England
(46 vols., 1951–74), which he conceived, edited, and largely wrote himself. Companion series on the buildings of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales began publication in 1978. Pevsner's many books included important studies on painting, sculpture, and design as well as architecture. They include
Academies of Art, Past and Present
(1940),
An Outline of European Architecture
(1942 and numerous other editions), and
The Englishness of English Art
(1956). He also conceived and edited the
Pelican History of Art
(which began publication in 1953), the largest, most comprehensive, and most scholarly history of art ever published in English, many of the individual volumes of which have become classics. Anthony
Blunt
, Sir Ellis
Waterhouse
, and Rudolf
Wittkower
are among the scholars who have written volumes in the series.
German-born British art historian. He worked at the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden and taught at Göttingen University (1929–33) before moving to England because of the rise of Nazism. In England he was
Slade
Professor at both Oxford and Cambridge universities and also professor at Birkbeck College in the University of London. He is best known for his writings on architecture, above all for the celebrated series of county-by-county guides
The Buildings of England
(46 vols., 1951–74), which he conceived, edited, and largely wrote himself. Companion series on the buildings of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales began publication in 1978. Pevsner's many books included important studies on painting, sculpture, and design as well as architecture. They include
Academies of Art, Past and Present
(1940),
An Outline of European Architecture
(1942 and numerous other editions), and
The Englishness of English Art
(1956). He also conceived and edited the
Pelican History of Art
(which began publication in 1953), the largest, most comprehensive, and most scholarly history of art ever published in English, many of the individual volumes of which have become classics. Anthony
Blunt
, Sir Ellis
Waterhouse
, and Rudolf
Wittkower
are among the scholars who have written volumes in the series.
Pforr , Franz
(1788–1812).
German painter. He was one of the founders of the
Nazarenes
and went to Rome with other members of the group in 1810. His work evokes a fairy-tale type of medievalism, with bright colours and picturesque details. It is best represented in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut of his native Frankfurt.
German painter. He was one of the founders of the
Nazarenes
and went to Rome with other members of the group in 1810. His work evokes a fairy-tale type of medievalism, with bright colours and picturesque details. It is best represented in the Städelsches Kunstinstitut of his native Frankfurt.
Phalanx
.
.
An association of artists organized in Munich in 1901 in opposition to the conservative views of the Academy and the
Sezession
.
Kandinsky
was one of the founders of the association and its leading figure, becoming President in 1902. For the first group exhibition in August 1901 he designed a magnificent poster in
Art Nouveau
style showing Greek warriors advancing across a battlefield in phalanx formation. The militaristic name of the association was chosen to suggest its aggressive, progressive spirit. Eleven more exhibitions followed before Kandinsky dissolved Phalanx in 1904 because of lack of public support. The exhibitions featured not only work by members, but also by ‘guest’ artists, notably French
Post-Impressionists
and
Neo-Impressionists
at the 10th exhibition in 1904. This was the most important of the exhibitions, confirming Kandinsky's internationalism and having a marked effect on several young artists, notably
Kirchner
. In 1902–3 Phalanx ran an art school.
Sezession
.
Kandinsky
was one of the founders of the association and its leading figure, becoming President in 1902. For the first group exhibition in August 1901 he designed a magnificent poster in
Art Nouveau
style showing Greek warriors advancing across a battlefield in phalanx formation. The militaristic name of the association was chosen to suggest its aggressive, progressive spirit. Eleven more exhibitions followed before Kandinsky dissolved Phalanx in 1904 because of lack of public support. The exhibitions featured not only work by members, but also by ‘guest’ artists, notably French
Post-Impressionists
and
Neo-Impressionists
at the 10th exhibition in 1904. This was the most important of the exhibitions, confirming Kandinsky's internationalism and having a marked effect on several young artists, notably
Kirchner
. In 1902–3 Phalanx ran an art school.
Phidias
(d.
c.
432 BC).
Greek sculptor, active mainly in Athens, the most famous artist of the ancient world. No work survives that is certainly from his own hand, but through copies, descriptions, and above all the surviving sculpture of the Parthenon at Athens, which Phidias supervised, a fair idea can be gained of his style. In antiquity he was most celebrated for two enormous
chryselephantine
cult statues—of Athena, inside the Parthenon, and of Zeus in the temple dedicated to the god at Olympia. The statue of Zeus, a seated figure about 12m. high and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is known through reproductions on Roman coins. The statue of Athena (dedicated 438 BC), a standing figure about 9m. high, is known through several (much smaller) copies. Phidias also made two bronze statues of Athena for the Acropolis in Athens: the huge
Athena Promachos
(champion), in which the goddess was shown holding a spear; and the
Lemnian Athena
(so called because it was dedicated by Athenian colonists going to Lemnos between 451 and 448 BC). The
Athena Promachos
is represented in coins and the
Lemnian Athena
can be partially reconstructed from two fragmentary copies: a remarkably sensitive head in Bologna (Museo Civico Archeologico) and a substantially complete figure in Dresden (Albertinum). Other copies have been credibly associated with works of Phidias mentioned in ancient sources, and recently the two bronze statues of warriors found in the sea near Riace in 1972 (‘The Riace bronzes’) and now in the archaeological museum at Reggio di Calabria have been linked with his name because of their superlative quality. The greatest testimony to his genius, however, is the sculpture of the Parthenon (447–432 BC), the most ambitious sculptural undertaking of the age, consisting of a low-
relief
frieze about 160m. long, ninety-two metopes (decorative panels) in high relief, and groups of free-standing figures on both pediments. The quality is variable, as a team of sculptors was involved and Phidias could not have carved more than a tiny fraction of the work himself, but the finest parts (see
ELGIN MARBLES
) exemplify the harmony and serene majesty that earned the raptures of ancient commentators and stand as the greatest surviving examples of the
Classical
period in Greek art.
The end of Phidias' career is something of a mystery. When the great statesman Pericles, his friend and patron, fell out of favour Phidias was accused of misappropriating gold supplied to him for the statue of Athena. Then, according to Plutarch, having cleared himself of this charge, he was thrown into prison for ‘impiety’ on the ground that he had introduced portraits of Pericles and himself on the shield of the goddess (a copy of the shield—the ‘Strangford Shield’—is in the British Museum). Plutarch says that Phidias died in prison, but according to another ancient source he escaped and went to Olympia to work on his statue of Zeus, the date of which is uncertain. In 1954–8 Phidias' workshop at Olympia was excavated. Moulds, scraps of ivory, and other fragments were discovered, and—remarkably—a cup bearing the inscription ‘I belong to Phidias’—the great man's tea-mug, as it were. This poignant relic is in the Olympia Museum. Phidias is said to have been a painter, engraver, and worker in embossed metalwork. His influence is seen in the best of contemporary vase-painting as well as in the sculpture of his successors.
c.
432 BC).
Greek sculptor, active mainly in Athens, the most famous artist of the ancient world. No work survives that is certainly from his own hand, but through copies, descriptions, and above all the surviving sculpture of the Parthenon at Athens, which Phidias supervised, a fair idea can be gained of his style. In antiquity he was most celebrated for two enormous
chryselephantine
cult statues—of Athena, inside the Parthenon, and of Zeus in the temple dedicated to the god at Olympia. The statue of Zeus, a seated figure about 12m. high and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is known through reproductions on Roman coins. The statue of Athena (dedicated 438 BC), a standing figure about 9m. high, is known through several (much smaller) copies. Phidias also made two bronze statues of Athena for the Acropolis in Athens: the huge
Athena Promachos
(champion), in which the goddess was shown holding a spear; and the
Lemnian Athena
(so called because it was dedicated by Athenian colonists going to Lemnos between 451 and 448 BC). The
Athena Promachos
is represented in coins and the
Lemnian Athena
can be partially reconstructed from two fragmentary copies: a remarkably sensitive head in Bologna (Museo Civico Archeologico) and a substantially complete figure in Dresden (Albertinum). Other copies have been credibly associated with works of Phidias mentioned in ancient sources, and recently the two bronze statues of warriors found in the sea near Riace in 1972 (‘The Riace bronzes’) and now in the archaeological museum at Reggio di Calabria have been linked with his name because of their superlative quality. The greatest testimony to his genius, however, is the sculpture of the Parthenon (447–432 BC), the most ambitious sculptural undertaking of the age, consisting of a low-
relief
frieze about 160m. long, ninety-two metopes (decorative panels) in high relief, and groups of free-standing figures on both pediments. The quality is variable, as a team of sculptors was involved and Phidias could not have carved more than a tiny fraction of the work himself, but the finest parts (see
ELGIN MARBLES
) exemplify the harmony and serene majesty that earned the raptures of ancient commentators and stand as the greatest surviving examples of the
Classical
period in Greek art.
The end of Phidias' career is something of a mystery. When the great statesman Pericles, his friend and patron, fell out of favour Phidias was accused of misappropriating gold supplied to him for the statue of Athena. Then, according to Plutarch, having cleared himself of this charge, he was thrown into prison for ‘impiety’ on the ground that he had introduced portraits of Pericles and himself on the shield of the goddess (a copy of the shield—the ‘Strangford Shield’—is in the British Museum). Plutarch says that Phidias died in prison, but according to another ancient source he escaped and went to Olympia to work on his statue of Zeus, the date of which is uncertain. In 1954–8 Phidias' workshop at Olympia was excavated. Moulds, scraps of ivory, and other fragments were discovered, and—remarkably—a cup bearing the inscription ‘I belong to Phidias’—the great man's tea-mug, as it were. This poignant relic is in the Olympia Museum. Phidias is said to have been a painter, engraver, and worker in embossed metalwork. His influence is seen in the best of contemporary vase-painting as well as in the sculpture of his successors.
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