John Rewald
Encyclopedia
John Rewald was an American
academic, author and art historian. He was known as a scholar of Impressionism
, Post-Impressionism
, Cézanne, Renoir
, Pissarro, Seurat, and other French painters of the late 19th century. He was recognized as a foremost authority on late 19th-century art. His History of Impressionism is a standard work.
, of a middle-class, professional family. Rewald came from a Jewish background. He completed his Abitur in Hamburg, and studied thereafter at several German universities, going to the Sorbonne
in Paris
in 1932. At the Sorbonne he wrote his dissertation on the friendship of Zola
and Cézanne, having to persuade the academic authorities on this because Cézanne (died 1906) was considered too recent a figure.
When France declared war on Germany in 1939, he was interned as an enemy alien. He emigrated to the United States in 1941 and Alfred Barr
, director of the New York Museum of Modern Art, was his sponsor. From 1943 on, he consulted for the Museum of Modern Art, organizing exhibitions for it and other museums and researching his magnum opus, a history of Impressionism. The History of Impressionism was published in 1946 to universal acclaim.
Rewald was a visiting professor at Princeton University
between 1961 and 1964. He joined the faculty of the University of Chicago
in 1964 and remained there till 1971. In that year he received an appointment as 'distinguished professor of art history' at the City University of New York
(CUNY). 1977 saw him organizing the major 'Cézanne: The Late Work' exhibition at MoMA with William Rubin. He spent the year 1979 as the A. W. Mellon Lecturer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and retired from CUNY in 1984.
John Rewald, the devoted Cézanne scholar, was instrumental in creating a foundation to save Cézanne's studio and turn it into a museum. It is now a permanent museum in Aix-en-Provence, L'atelier Cézanne, and can be viewed as it was at the painter's death. The citizens of Aix, in gratitude to Rewald, named a street after him.
John Rewald died of congestive heart failure at age 81.
In 1983, Theodore Reff, professor of art history at Columbia University and a noted art historian, said: "He is more responsible than anyone else for putting the study of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism on solid scholarly foundations. What he set out to do, he did more thoroughly and scrupulously than anybody else, and he did it first."
He was the Vasari of Impressionism.
Complementing his career as an academic, he served as one of the founding members of the Board of Directors of the International Foundation for Art Research
(IFAR).
/WorldCat
encompasses roughly 600+ works in 1,400+ publications in 24 languages and 33,000+ library holdings.
Edited works
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic, author and art historian. He was known as a scholar of Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
, Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
, Cézanne, Renoir
Renoir
-People with the surname Renoir :* Pierre-Auguste Renoir , French painter* Pierre Renoir , French actor and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir* Jean Renoir , French film director and son of Pierre-Auguste Renoir...
, Pissarro, Seurat, and other French painters of the late 19th century. He was recognized as a foremost authority on late 19th-century art. His History of Impressionism is a standard work.
Biography
He was born Gustav Rewald at BerlinBerlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, of a middle-class, professional family. Rewald came from a Jewish background. He completed his Abitur in Hamburg, and studied thereafter at several German universities, going to the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1932. At the Sorbonne he wrote his dissertation on the friendship of Zola
Zola
Zola may refer to:People:* Zola , South African entertainer* Émile Zola , French novelist* Arlette Zola, Swiss singer* Calvin Zola , Congo DR footballer...
and Cézanne, having to persuade the academic authorities on this because Cézanne (died 1906) was considered too recent a figure.
When France declared war on Germany in 1939, he was interned as an enemy alien. He emigrated to the United States in 1941 and Alfred Barr
Alfred Barr
Alfred Hamilton Barr, Jr. , known as Alfred H. Barr, Jr., was an American art historian and the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City...
, director of the New York Museum of Modern Art, was his sponsor. From 1943 on, he consulted for the Museum of Modern Art, organizing exhibitions for it and other museums and researching his magnum opus, a history of Impressionism. The History of Impressionism was published in 1946 to universal acclaim.
Rewald was a visiting professor at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
between 1961 and 1964. He joined the faculty of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1964 and remained there till 1971. In that year he received an appointment as 'distinguished professor of art history' at the City University of New York
City University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
(CUNY). 1977 saw him organizing the major 'Cézanne: The Late Work' exhibition at MoMA with William Rubin. He spent the year 1979 as the A. W. Mellon Lecturer at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and retired from CUNY in 1984.
John Rewald, the devoted Cézanne scholar, was instrumental in creating a foundation to save Cézanne's studio and turn it into a museum. It is now a permanent museum in Aix-en-Provence, L'atelier Cézanne, and can be viewed as it was at the painter's death. The citizens of Aix, in gratitude to Rewald, named a street after him.
John Rewald died of congestive heart failure at age 81.
Rewald's Significance
Rewald, a highly cultured and erudite man and a renowned writer, was the product of four distinct civilizations: the pre-World War I Wilhelmine German Empire, the Weimar Republic of Germany, the French Third Republic in its final years, and America in the latter half of the 20th Century. He is famous not only for his solid scholarship, and the ground-breaking treatment of his subject, but also for the beauty and lucidity of his prose which, invariably sober and scholarly, never departing from the factual, rises at times to a culminating lyricism.In 1983, Theodore Reff, professor of art history at Columbia University and a noted art historian, said: "He is more responsible than anyone else for putting the study of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism on solid scholarly foundations. What he set out to do, he did more thoroughly and scrupulously than anybody else, and he did it first."
He was the Vasari of Impressionism.
Complementing his career as an academic, he served as one of the founding members of the Board of Directors of the International Foundation for Art Research
International Foundation for Art Research
International Foundation for Art Research is a non-profit organization which was established to channel and coordinate scholarly and technical information about works of art. IFAR provides an administrative and legal framework within which experts can express their objective opinions...
(IFAR).
Selected works
In a statistical overview derived from writings by and about John Rewald, OCLCOCLC
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Inc. is "a nonprofit, membership, computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the world’s information and reducing information costs"...
/WorldCat
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...
encompasses roughly 600+ works in 1,400+ publications in 24 languages and 33,000+ library holdings.
- Cézanne et Zola (1936)
- Maillol (1939)
- Georges Seurat (1943)
- History of Impressionism (1946)
- Paul Cézanne (1948)
- Pierre Bonnard (1948)
- Les Fauves (1952)
- History of Post-Impressionism: From van Gogh to Gauguin (1956)
- Studies in Impressionism (1986)
- Studies in Post-Impressionism (1986)
- Cézanne, a Biography (1986)
- Seurat, a Biography (1990)
- Camille Pissarro (1963)
- Cézanne, the Steins, and their Circle (1987)
- Cézanne in America (1989)
Edited works
- Paul Cézanne, Letters (1941)
- Paul Gauguin, Letters (1943)
- Camille Pissarro, Letters to his Son Lucien {1943)
- The Woodcuts of Aristide Maillol (1943), catalogue raisonnéCatalogue raisonnéThe typical catalogue raisonné is a monograph giving a comprehensive catalogue of artworks by an artist.The essential elements of a catalogue raisonné are that it purports to be an exhaustive list of works for a defined subject matter describing the works in a way so that they may be reliably...
- Renoir, Drawings (1946)
- Paul Cézanne, Carnets de Dessins (1951)
- The Sculptures of Edgar Degas (1957), catalogue raisonné
- Gauguin, Drawings (1958)