Hans Belting: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|German art historian (1935–2023)}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}

{{Infobox art historian

| birth_place = [[Andernach]], Gau Koblenz-Trier<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, German Reich<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->

| alma_mater = [[University of Mainz]]

'''Hans Belting''' (7 July 1935 – 10 January 2023) was a German [[art historian]] and [[Media studies|media theorist]] with a focus on [[Bildwissenschaft|image science]], and this with regard to [[contemporary art]] and to the Italian art of the [[Medieval art|Middle Ages]] and the [[Renaissance art|Renaissance]].

== Biography ==

Belting was born in [[Andernach]], Rhine Province<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->, on 7 July 1935. He studied at the universities of [[Mainz]] and [[Rome]], and took his doctorate in art history at the [[University of Mainz]]. Belting taught as a professor of art history at the [[University of Hamburg]] in 1966,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hosting.zkm.de/icon/stories/storyReader$75|title=E Hans Belting|website=hosting.zkm.de|access-date=26 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080322094520/http://hosting.zkm.de/icon/stories/storyReader$75|archive-date=22 March 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> then at the [[University of Heidelberg]], and from 1980 to 1992 at the [[Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität]] at Munich.

From 1992 until his retirement in 2002, Belting was professor at the Institute for Art History and Media Theory at the [[Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design|State College of Design in Karlsruhe]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://csmt.uchicago.edu/membersbelting.htm|title=The Chicago School of Media Theory > Members > Hans Belting|website=csmt.uchicago.edu}}</ref> From October 2004 until the end of September 2007, Belting served as Director of the {{ill|Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften|de}} (International Research Centre for Cultural Studies) in Vienna.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://idw-online.de/de/news238948|title=Beirat des Internationalen Kollegs in Weimar besetzt|website=idw-online.de}}</ref>

Belting published his first monograph in 1962 (''Die Basilica dei Ss. Martiri in Cimitile'') and later authored more than thirty books, some of them translated into various languages. His essay "The End of Art History?" attracted considerable attention and Belting expanded it in successive editions.<ref>''Das Ende der Kunstgeschichte?'' (1983) was first read at a conference held at the Munich University in 1980, and ten years later as revised as ''Das Ende der Kunstgeschichte : eine Revision nach zehn Jahren'', 1995 ({{ISBN|3-406-38543-5}}); an English translation was produced as ''Art History after Modernism'', Chicago, 2003 ({{ISBN|0-226-04184-0}})</ref>

Belting died in Berlin on 10 January 2023, at age 87.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kunst kommt von Kult |url=https://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/kunst-und-architektur/zum-tod-des-kunsthistorikers-hans-belting-18597633.html |access-date=12 January 2023 |work=[[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]] |date=12 January 2023}}</ref>

== Writings ==

Belting was known for his contributions to the field of ''[[Bildwissenschaft]]'' ("image-science"). His account of ''Bildwissenschaft'' sought to develop an anthropological theory of the image to examine its universal functions that span cultural distinctions, and considered the relationship between the image and the body.<ref>{{cite book|first=Matthew|last=Rampley|chapter=Bildwissenschaft: Theories of the Image in German-Language Scholarship|title=Art History and Visual Studies in Europe: Transnational Discourses and National Frameworks|editor1-first=Matthew|editor1-last=Rampley|editor2-first=Thierry|editor2-last=Lenain|editor3-first=Hubert|editor3-last=Locher|editor4-first=Andrea|editor4-last=Pinotti|editor5-first=Charlotte|editor5-last=Schoell-Glass|editor6-first=Kitty|editor6-last=Zijlmans |editor-link6=Kitty Zijlmans|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=2012|page=126}}</ref> Belting examined images used in religious contexts to identify the original non-artistic functions of images today considered [[art object]]s, and argued that "art" was a unit of analysis had emerged in the 16th century that obstructed corporeal engagements with images.{{sfn|Rampley|2012|pp=126–7}}

In ''Likeness and Presence'' (1990), Belting argued for the necessity of understanding the ways images give meaning to their contexts, rather than gaining meaning from their contexts, to understand images as actors with their own agency.<ref>{{cite journal|first=David|last=Craven|title=The New German Art History: From Ideological Critique and the Warburg Renaissance to the ''Bildwissenschaft'' of the Three Bs|journal=Art in Translation|volume=6|issue=2|year=2014|page=143|doi=10.2752/175613114X13998876655059|s2cid=192985575}}</ref> Belting argued that art history as a disciplinary formation was outmoded and potentially obsolete,<ref>{{cite journal|first=Jason|last=Gaiger|title=The Idea of a Universal ''Bildwissenschaft''|journal=Estetika: The Central European Journal of Aesthetic|volume=LI|issue=2|year=2014|page=214|url=http://aesthetics.ff.cuni.cz/file_download/49}}</ref> and that a ''Bildwissenschaft'' capable of apprehending all kinds of images, the exact scope and methods of which remain uncertain, should be sought.{{sfn|Gaiger|2014|p=211}} Pioneering the development of a global perspective on art studies and museum practice was the research project ''GAM – Global Art and the Museum'', which Belting initiated in 2006 with [[Peter Weibel]] and Andrea Buddensieg at the [[ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe]]. The project, which ran until 2016, took a look at new museum practices and the worldwide development of art biennials that have emerged beyond "Euramerica" (John Clark) since the end of the 1980s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=GAM – Global Art and the Museum {{!}} 2006 to 2016 {{!}} ZKM|url=https://zkm.de/en/project/gam-global-art-and-the-museum|access-date=30 May 2021|website=zkm.de|language=en}}</ref> The project included the exhibition and publication ''[[The Global Contemporary: Art Worlds after 1989]]'' (2011–2012) at ZKM | Center or Art and Media Karlsruhe.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Global Contemporary {{!}} 17 September 2011 (All day) to 19 February 2012 (All day) {{!}} ZKM|url=https://zkm.de/en/exhibition/2011/09/the-global-contemporary|access-date=27 July 2021|website=zkm.de|language=en}}</ref>

== Fellowships and honours ==

[[File:Knihovna Hanse Beltinga - otevření - 42.jpg|thumb|Belting opening library with his books in [[Masaryk University]], Brno<!-- DO NOT LINK, see [[MOS:GEOLINK]] for further guidance -->]]

Belting was a member of scientific academies in Germany and the U.S., including the [[Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities]],<ref name="Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften d124">{{cite web | title=Die Akademie trauert um ihre Mitglieder Hans Belting, Wolfhard Wimmenauer und Ernst G. Jung Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften | url=https://www.hadw-bw.de/verstorbenes-mitglied-hans-belting | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> a fellow of the [[Berlin Institute for Advanced Study]],<ref name="Hans Belting, Dr. phil. v729">{{cite web | title=Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin: Hans Belting, Dr. phil. | website=Hans Belting, Dr. phil. | url=https://www.wiko-berlin.de/fellows/akademisches-jahr | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> and honorary member of the Leibniz-Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung, Berlin.<ref name="ZfL Berlin 1935 b365">{{cite web | title=Prof. em. Hans Belting † | website=ZfL Berlin | date=7 July 1935 | url=https://www.zfl-berlin.org/people-detail/belting.html | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref> He was a member of the Order [[Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts]]<ref name="ORDEN POUR LE MÉRITE u432">{{cite web | title=Belting | website=ORDEN POUR LE MÉRITE | url=https://www.orden-pourlemerite.de/mitglieder/hans-belting | language=de | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.akademie3000.de/en/content/referenten/belting.htm|title=Academy of the Third Millennium – Speakers|website=akademie3000.de}}</ref> and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna ([[MUMOK]]). He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1992,<ref name=AAAS>{{cite web|title=Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter B|url=http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterB.pdf|publisher=American Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=30 May 2011}}</ref> and a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 2005.<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Hans+Belting&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=25 May 2021|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He held a fellowship at [[Dumbarton Oaks]] of[[Harvard University]] inWashington, D.C.<ref name="Dumbarton Oaks 2013 d409">{{cite web | title=Hans Belting | website=Dumbarton Oaks | date=6 August 2013 | url=https://www.doaks.org/research/library-archives/dumbarton-oaks-archives/historical-records/oral-history-project/hans-belting | access-date=14 July 2023}}</ref>

In 2016 Belting donated his private library in three parts to the libraries of the institutes of art history at [[Free University of Berlin]], at [[Danube University Krems]] (Austria) as well as the Department of Art History of the [[Masaryk University|Faculty of Arts of Masaryk University]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://brno.idnes.cz/hans-belting-venoval-masarykove-univerzite-celozivotni-sbirku-knih-1j2-/brno-zpravy.aspx?c=A160420_2240613_brno-zpravy_krut|title=Německého historika oslnili brněnští studenti, dá jim celoživotní sbírku|last=Živný|first=Filip|website=Mladá fronta DNES|date=20 April 2016|access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref> Hence the last named the new library after him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.phil.muni.cz/wff/home/News/2016/slavnostni-otevreni-knihovny-hanse-belting/view?set_language=en|title=Faculty of Arts MU: Slavnostní otevření Knihovny Hanse Beltinga|publisher=Masaryk university|access-date=20 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.online.muni.cz/en/news/7584-faculty-of-arts-receives-thousands-of-books-from-an-art-historian|title=Faculty of Arts receives thousands of books from an art historian |date=12 May 2016 |publisher=Masaryk university|language=en-US|access-date=21 May 2016}}</ref>

== Works ==

* {{cite book | last=Belting | first=Hans | title=Face and Mask: A Double History | publication-place=Princeton | publisher=Princeton University Press | date=2017 | isbn=978-0691162355 }}

* {{cite book | last=Belting | first=Hans |author-mask=2 | title=Florence and Baghdad: Renaissance art and Arab science | publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press | publication-place=Cambridge, Mass. | date=2011 | isbn=978-0-674-05004-4 | oclc=701493612}}

* {{cite book | last1=Belting | first1=Hans |author-mask=2 | last2=Dunlap | first2=Thomas | title=An Anthropology of Images: Picture, Medium, Body | publisher=Princeton University Press | publication-place=Princeton | date=2011 | isbn=978-0-691-14500-6 | oclc=691205559}}

* {{cite book | last=Belting | first=Hans |author-mask=2 | title=Looking through Duchamp's door: art and perspective in the work of Duchamp, Sugimoto, Jeff Wall | publisher=Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König | publication-place=Köln | date=2009 | isbn=978-3-86560-605-1 | oclc=499093764}}

* {{cite book | last1=Belting | first1=Hans |author-mask=2 | last2=Buddensieg | first2=Andrea | last3=Araújo | first3=Emanoel | author4=Global Art and the Museum | author5=Internationales Forschungszentrum Kulturwissenschaften | author6=Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe | title=The global art world: audiences, markets, and museums | publisher=Hatje Cantz | publication-place=Ostfildern | date=2009 | isbn=978-3-7757-2407-4 | oclc=427296651}}

* {{cite book | last1=Belting | first1=Hans |author-mask=2 | last2=Birken | first2=Jacob | last3=Buddensieg | first3=Andrea | last4=Weibel | first4=Peter | last5=Binter | first5=Julia T. S. | title=Global studies: mapping contemporary art and culture | publication-place=Ostfildern, Germany | date=2011 | isbn=978-3-7757-3202-4 | oclc=767534541}}

* {{cite book | last1=Belting | first1=Hans |author-mask=2 | last2=Bosch | first2=Hieronymus | title=Hieronymus Bosch, Garden of earthly delights | publisher=Prestel | publication-place=Munich | date=2012 | isbn=978-3-7913-3320-5 | oclc=829228470}}

* {{cite book | last1=Belting | first1=Hans |author-mask=2 | translator-last1=Atkins | translator-first1=Helen | title=The invisible masterpiece | publisher=University of Chicago Press | publication-place=Chicago | date=2001 | isbn=0-226-04265-0 | oclc=46401602}}

* {{cite book | last=Belting | first=Hans |author-mask=2 | title=The Germans and their art: a troublesome relationship | publisher=Yale University Press | publication-place=New Haven | date=1998 | isbn=0-300-07616-9 | oclc=38468736}}

* {{cite book | last1=Belting | first1=Hans |author-mask=2 | last2=Jephcott | first2=E. F. N. | title=Likeness and presence: a history of the image before the era of art | publisher=University of Chicago Press | publication-place=Chicago | date=1994 | isbn=0-226-04214-6 | oclc=27769840}}

* {{cite book | last=Belting | first=Hans |author-mask=2 | title=The image and its public in the Middle Ages: form and function of early paintings of the Passion | publisher=A.D. Caratzas | publication-place=New Rochelle, N.Y. | date=1990 | isbn=0-89241-403-0 | oclc=19623960}}

* {{cite book | last=Belting | first=Hans |author-mask=2 | title=Max Beckmann: tradition as a problem in modern art | publisher=Timken Publishers | publication-place=New York | date=1989 | isbn=0-943221-06-4 | oclc=20261141}}

* {{cite book | last1=Belting | first1=Hans |author-mask=2 | last2=Wood | first2=Christopher S. | title=The end of the history of art? | publisher=University of Chicago Press | publication-place=Chicago | date=1987 | isbn=0-226-04217-0 | oclc=14359049}}

== Chapters ==

* Hans Belting, "The Migration of Images. An Encounter with Figuration in Islamic Art", in ''Dynamis of the Image. Moving Images in a Global World'', eds. Emmanuel Alloa & Chiara Cappelletto, Berlin-New York: De Gruyter 2021, Series "Contact Zones", pp. 63-78, doi=10.1515/9783110530544-004

== References ==

== External links ==

{{Commons category}}

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131015042659/http://www02.zkm.de/gam/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=18&Itemid=40 "Why the Museum? New Markets, Colonial Memories, and Local Politics"], Keynote Lecture at the ZKM conference, 19 October 2007

* [http://arthistorians.info/beltingh Dictionary of Art Historians: Belting, Hans]

* [http://csmt.uchicago.edu/membersbelting.htm Chicago School of Media]

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100110015440/http://www.wcas.northwestern.edu/arthistory/faculty/belting.htm Northwestern University – Faculty]

* [http://bildevidenz.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Bibliography-_Belting-2022.pdf Complete list of works]

[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Hamburg]]

[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]

[[Category:German art historians]]

[[Category:German contemporary artists]]

[[Category:German male non-fiction writers]]

[[Category:Harvard University people]]

[[Category:Historians of Byzantine art]]

[[Category:Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni]]

[[Category:People from Andernach]]

[[Category:People from the Rhine Province]]

[[Category:Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)]]