STRZYGOWSKI, JOSEPH. — Art historian, born in Biela, in what was then Austrian Silesia, on 7 March 1862, died on 7 January 1941. He studied archaeology and art history at the Universities of Vienna, Berlin, and Munich, achieving brilliant results and arousing admiration for his extensive culture.
His first scholarly essays dealt with the history of art in Italy, including an original study, Cimabue und Rom., published in 1888. Professor at Graz in 1892, he moved to the University of Vienna in 1909. After profound study of Italian art, S. devoted himself to investigations into the origins of ancient art, and especially to studies relating to the art of the late Empire and to early Christian art in Rome and the East. His treatments of the artistic manifestations of Asia Minor, Syria, Mesopotamia, Armenia, and Iran in relation to those of Italy, Greece, Spain, and the other parts of Europe were original and brilliant. S. devoted particular research to demonstrating and illustrating the close ties between the characteristic art of the Iranian regions and that of certain peoples of northern Europe. A further manifestation of S.’s scholarly activity was his conclusive demonstration of the unity of the art that developed over the centuries in the north of Europe and Asia, in contrast to the close ties that link and merge, in their various branches, the art of the southern regions of Europe and Asia. Among S.’s principal works, the following should be noted: Ikonographie der
Taufe Christi, Munich 1885; Orient oder Rom, Leipzig 1901; Kleinasien: ein Neuland der Kunstgeschichte, there 1909; Amida, Heidelberg 1910; Altai-Iran und Völkerwanderung, Vienna 1917; Die Krisis der Geisteswissenschaften, there 1923.