Helen Rosenau | |
|---|---|
| Born | Helene Rosenau 23 March 1900 |
| Died | 27 October 1984 (aged 84) |
| Other names | Helen Rosenau-Carmi |
| Citizenship | British (naturalized 1948) |
| Occupation(s) | Academic, art and architectural historian |
| Employer(s) | University of London, University of Manchester |
| Known for | Women in Art: from Type to Personality (1944): "one of the first feminist tracts in art history" |
Helen Rosenau (23 March 1900–27 October 1984) [1] [2] was a German-born British academic, feminist, and historian of art and architecture. [3] [4] [1] Her 1944 work Women in Art has been described as "one of the first feminist tracts in art history". [1] Forced to leave Germany during the 1930s, Rosenau was one of a number of influential European Jewish intellectuals who brought innovation to academic study in the UK and US. [5]
Early life and education
Helen Rosenau was born in Monte Carlo, the daughter of medical doctor Albert Rosenau and mother Klara Rosenau (née Lion). [1] [2] She was raised in Monte Carlo and in Bad Kissingen, Germany, in a wealthy family, [4] and received her education through private tutoring. [1] After finishing high school in 1923, Rosenau studied art history at a number of universities, including Munich under Heinrich Wölfflin, Berlin under Adolph Goldschmidt, Bonn under Paul Clemen, and Hamburg under Erwin Panofsky. [1]
Rosenau's 1930 dissertation, on the topic of Cologne cathedral, was submitted in Hamburg. [1] She moved then to the University of Münster, planning to complete her Habilitation on medieval architecture. [1] [4] With the rise of the Nazi government, Rosenau had her scholarship withdrawn and she was removed from the university. [4] With her mother, she emigrated first to Switzerland and then to the United Kingdom - arriving in 1933. [1] [4] Supported by a stipend from the British Federation of University Women, Rosenau completed her habilitation, Design and Medieval Architecture, in 1934. [4] She continued her studies at The Courtauld Institute of Art, earning her PhD in 1940. [4]
Rosenau's repeated requests during 1935 to visit her mother in Baden-Baden were rejected by German authorities, who described her as "subversive" and accused her of having a "communist attitude". [2] In 1940, she was placed on the Sonderfahndungsliste G.B., a list of people named for arrest in the event of a successful invasion of Britain. [2]
Rosenau married Zwi Carmi (1883-1900), a doctor, in 1938. [1] They adopted a son, Michael, in 1944. [2] She became a naturalized British subject in 1948. [4] Rosenau's husband died in 1950. [4]
Career
From 1935, Rosenau contributed regularly to a number of British academic publications, including Apollo, The Burlington Magazine, and the RIBA Journal. [4] Her articles encompassed art history, as well as her wider educational, feminist, and humanist interests. [4] Rosenau's "progressive humanist and feminist outlook" was also evident in her lectures to the Conway Hall Ethical Society, and columns for the International Women's News. [4]
From the 1940s, Rosenau also gave adult education lectures for the Extra-Mural Department of the University of London, [6] the London County Council (LCC), and the Workers' Educational Association (WEA). [4] She resumed this after her retirement After her retirement, continuing extra-mural lectures for the University of London and Polytechnic of Central London's School of Architecture. [4]
From 1941, Rosenau worked at the London School of Economics under the sociologist Karl Mannheim, researching the historical depiction of women in art. [1] The work she produced, Woman in Art: from Type to Personality, has been called "one of the first feminist tracts in art history"; [1] described as "erudite and accessible", and deserving of a place "in the historiographies of both feminist thought and cutting-edge art history across two centuries." [5] She had previously contributed a short article entitled "Changing Attitudes Towards Women" to an anthology published by the Free German League of Culture: Women Under the Swastika (1942). [4]
After the war, Rosenau continued her career in academia, lecturing at universities including the University of London (1947-1951; 1968- ), and the University of Manchester (1951-1968). [1] Her first English language art history book was published in 1948, on the French artist Jacques-Louis David. [1]
At the University of Manchester, Rosenau's research focused on the work of French architect she researched the French Revolutionary architect Étienne-Louis Boullée, whose treatise, Architecture, Essai sur L'art, she edited and published in 1953. [1] In 1959, she published The Ideal City in its Architectural Evolution. [1] Of this, History Today wrote that "the book's main strength lies in its author's synoptic vision and her exposition of the relation between philosophical ideals and architectural forms." [7]
Rosenau returned to the University of London in 1968, lecturing also at the progressive Jewish Leo Baeck College. [1]
Death and legacy
Helen Rosenau died in London on 27 October 1984. [2] [1]
In 2023, Yale University Press published a new edition of Rosenau's Women in Art, marking the eightieth anniversary of its original publication. [5] The new setting in full colour is prefaced by a personal memoir by a former student, Adrian Rifkin, a study of the author's life in Britain as a refugee scholar by Rachel Dickson and a portrait of Rosenau as feminist intellectual followed by a suite of seven essays by Griselda Pollock analysing the significance of the book as a work of feminist social history of art . [5]
Selected bibliography
Books
- Women in Art: from Type to Personality (1944)
- The Painter Jacques-Louis David (1948)
- A Short History of Jewish Art (1948)
- Boullee's Treatise on Architecture (1954)
- Social Purpose in Architecture: Paris and London Compared, 1760-1800 (1970)
- The Ideal City: Its Architectural Evolution in Europe (1975)
- Boullée & visionary architecture (1976)
- Vision of the Temple: the Image of the Temple of Jerusalem in Judaism and Christianity (1979)
Articles
- Der kölner Dom: seine Baugeschichte und historische Stellung (dissertation; 1930)
- Design and Medieval Architecture (1934)
- The Synagogue and Protestant Church Architecture (1941)
- Architecture and the French Revolution: Jean Jacque Lequeu (1949)
- Historical Aspects of the Vitruvian Tradition in Town Planning (1955)
- Gottfried Semper and German Synagogue Architecture (1977)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Rosenau, Helen | Dictionary of Art Historians". arthistorians.info. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d e f Kissingen, Stadt Bad. "Datenbank - Biographisches Handbuch - Jüdische Bürger Bad Kissingen". Bad Kissingen (in German). Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "Helen Rosenau". Women Writing Architecture. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "'It may be good art history': The rehabilitation of Dr. Helen Rosenau by Ben Uri Research Unit - Issuu". issuu.com. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d "Woman in Art". Yale University Press London. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "University of London Department of Extra-Mural Studies Reports - Birkbeck College: Publications - Birkbeck College archive - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "The Ideal City - Its Architectural Evolution in Europe | History Today". www.historytoday.com. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
External links
- Works by Helen Rosenau on Internet Archive
- Facsimile of Women in Art (1944) on the Internet Archive
- 2014 lecture about the work of Helen Rosenau by Griselda Pollock
Helen Rosenau | |
|---|---|
| Born | Helene Rosenau 23 March 1900 |
| Died | 27 October 1984 (aged 84) |
| Other names | Helen Rosenau-Carmi |
| Citizenship | British (naturalized 1948) |
| Occupation(s) | Academic, art and architectural historian |
| Employer(s) | University of London, University of Manchester |
| Known for | Women in Art: from Type to Personality (1944): "one of the first feminist tracts in art history" |
Helen Rosenau (23 March 1900–27 October 1984) [1] [2] was a German-born British academic, feminist, and historian of art and architecture. [3] [4] [1] Her 1944 work Women in Art has been described as "one of the first feminist tracts in art history". [1] Forced to leave Germany during the 1930s, Rosenau was one of a number of influential European Jewish intellectuals who brought innovation to academic study in the UK and US. [5]
Early life and education
Helen Rosenau was born in Monte Carlo, the daughter of medical doctor Albert Rosenau and mother Klara Rosenau (née Lion). [1] [2] She was raised in Monte Carlo and in Bad Kissingen, Germany, in a wealthy family, [4] and received her education through private tutoring. [1] After finishing high school in 1923, Rosenau studied art history at a number of universities, including Munich under Heinrich Wölfflin, Berlin under Adolph Goldschmidt, Bonn under Paul Clemen, and Hamburg under Erwin Panofsky. [1]
Rosenau's 1930 dissertation, on the topic of Cologne cathedral, was submitted in Hamburg. [1] She moved then to the University of Münster, planning to complete her Habilitation on medieval architecture. [1] [4] With the rise of the Nazi government, Rosenau had her scholarship withdrawn and she was removed from the university. [4] With her mother, she emigrated first to Switzerland and then to the United Kingdom - arriving in 1933. [1] [4] Supported by a stipend from the British Federation of University Women, Rosenau completed her habilitation, Design and Medieval Architecture, in 1934. [4] She continued her studies at The Courtauld Institute of Art, earning her PhD in 1940. [4]
Rosenau's repeated requests during 1935 to visit her mother in Baden-Baden were rejected by German authorities, who described her as "subversive" and accused her of having a "communist attitude". [2] In 1940, she was placed on the Sonderfahndungsliste G.B., a list of people named for arrest in the event of a successful invasion of Britain. [2]
Rosenau married Zwi Carmi (1883-1900), a doctor, in 1938. [1] They adopted a son, Michael, in 1944. [2] She became a naturalized British subject in 1948. [4] Rosenau's husband died in 1950. [4]
Career
From 1935, Rosenau contributed regularly to a number of British academic publications, including Apollo, The Burlington Magazine, and the RIBA Journal. [4] Her articles encompassed art history, as well as her wider educational, feminist, and humanist interests. [4] Rosenau's "progressive humanist and feminist outlook" was also evident in her lectures to the Conway Hall Ethical Society, and columns for the International Women's News. [4]
From the 1940s, Rosenau also gave adult education lectures for the Extra-Mural Department of the University of London, [6] the London County Council (LCC), and the Workers' Educational Association (WEA). [4] She resumed this after her retirement After her retirement, continuing extra-mural lectures for the University of London and Polytechnic of Central London's School of Architecture. [4]
From 1941, Rosenau worked at the London School of Economics under the sociologist Karl Mannheim, researching the historical depiction of women in art. [1] The work she produced, Woman in Art: from Type to Personality, has been called "one of the first feminist tracts in art history"; [1] described as "erudite and accessible", and deserving of a place "in the historiographies of both feminist thought and cutting-edge art history across two centuries." [5] She had previously contributed a short article entitled "Changing Attitudes Towards Women" to an anthology published by the Free German League of Culture: Women Under the Swastika (1942). [4]
After the war, Rosenau continued her career in academia, lecturing at universities including the University of London (1947-1951; 1968- ), and the University of Manchester (1951-1968). [1] Her first English language art history book was published in 1948, on the French artist Jacques-Louis David. [1]
At the University of Manchester, Rosenau's research focused on the work of French architect she researched the French Revolutionary architect Étienne-Louis Boullée, whose treatise, Architecture, Essai sur L'art, she edited and published in 1953. [1] In 1959, she published The Ideal City in its Architectural Evolution. [1] Of this, History Today wrote that "the book's main strength lies in its author's synoptic vision and her exposition of the relation between philosophical ideals and architectural forms." [7]
Rosenau returned to the University of London in 1968, lecturing also at the progressive Jewish Leo Baeck College. [1]
Death and legacy
Helen Rosenau died in London on 27 October 1984. [2] [1]
In 2023, Yale University Press published a new edition of Rosenau's Women in Art, marking the eightieth anniversary of its original publication. [5] The new setting in full colour is prefaced by a personal memoir by a former student, Adrian Rifkin, a study of the author's life in Britain as a refugee scholar by Rachel Dickson and a portrait of Rosenau as feminist intellectual followed by a suite of seven essays by Griselda Pollock analysing the significance of the book as a work of feminist social history of art . [5]
Selected bibliography
Books
- Women in Art: from Type to Personality (1944)
- The Painter Jacques-Louis David (1948)
- A Short History of Jewish Art (1948)
- Boullee's Treatise on Architecture (1954)
- Social Purpose in Architecture: Paris and London Compared, 1760-1800 (1970)
- The Ideal City: Its Architectural Evolution in Europe (1975)
- Boullée & visionary architecture (1976)
- Vision of the Temple: the Image of the Temple of Jerusalem in Judaism and Christianity (1979)
Articles
- Der kölner Dom: seine Baugeschichte und historische Stellung (dissertation; 1930)
- Design and Medieval Architecture (1934)
- The Synagogue and Protestant Church Architecture (1941)
- Architecture and the French Revolution: Jean Jacque Lequeu (1949)
- Historical Aspects of the Vitruvian Tradition in Town Planning (1955)
- Gottfried Semper and German Synagogue Architecture (1977)
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Rosenau, Helen | Dictionary of Art Historians". arthistorians.info. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d e f Kissingen, Stadt Bad. "Datenbank - Biographisches Handbuch - Jüdische Bürger Bad Kissingen". Bad Kissingen (in German). Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "Helen Rosenau". Women Writing Architecture. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "'It may be good art history': The rehabilitation of Dr. Helen Rosenau by Ben Uri Research Unit - Issuu". issuu.com. 2021-09-22. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ a b c d "Woman in Art". Yale University Press London. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "University of London Department of Extra-Mural Studies Reports - Birkbeck College: Publications - Birkbeck College archive - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
- ^ "The Ideal City - Its Architectural Evolution in Europe | History Today". www.historytoday.com. Retrieved 2023-11-07.
External links
- Works by Helen Rosenau on Internet Archive
- Facsimile of Women in Art (1944) on the Internet Archive
- 2014 lecture about the work of Helen Rosenau by Griselda Pollock