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Leo S. Steinberg (born Schneur Zalman Ariyeh Lev Steinberg; July 9, 1920 – March 13, 2011) was a Soviet-born
Ken Johnson described him as "one of the most brilliant, influential and controversial art historians of the last half of the 20th century".[1] Joseph Rykwert called him "one of the most brilliant and original art historians of his generation".[2]
Early life and education
[edit]Steinberg was born Schneur Zalman Ariyeh Lev Steinberg in Moscow, Russian SFSR, on July 9, 1920.[1][3]
He had at least two sisters.[1]
His mother, Anyuta Esselson Steinberg, came from a wealthy background.[1]
His father, Isaac Nachman Steinberg, was a lawyer and politician during Revolutionary Russia,[1] serving as People's Commissariat of Justice under Vladimir Lenin.[1]
His uncle, Aaron Steinberg, was a scholar who would later direct the World Jewish Congress's cultural department.[4]
After leaving Russia, the family fled to Berlin.[1] While there, he learned German.[1]
Following Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany, the Steinbergs fled to Britain.[1] While there, he learned English.[1]
At sixteen years old, Steinberg entered the Slade School of Fine Art.[1] In 1940, he received his diploma for work in sculpture and drawing.[1]
Following the Second World War, the family left Britain and moved to the Upper West Side of Manhattan.[1]
Writing career
[edit]After moving to the United States, Steinberg worked in freelance writing, editing and translating, taught life drawing and studied philosophy.[1]
In 1947, he translated Jacob Pat's Ashes and Fire.[5]
In 1949, he translated the novel Mary by Sholem Asch.[6]
In his mid-30s, Steinberg began writing on art history.[1]
His essays were published in works such as Partisan Review and Arts Magazine.[1]
In 1951, he gave a lecture series titled "An Introduction to Art and Practical Esthetics" at the 92nd Street Y.[1] It gained wide attention.[1]
In 1970, he presented the two-part lecture series "On Michelangelo and Rubens" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[7]
In 1972, Steinberg published Other Criteria: Confrontations With Twentieth-Century Art, a collection of essays written between 1953 and 1971.[1] It was one of fourteen books nominated in the Arts and Letters category of the 1973 National Book Awards.[8]
In 1975, he published Michelangelo's Last Paintings: The Conversion of St. Paul and The Crucifiction of St. Peter in the Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace.[9] It was nominated in the Arts and Letters category of the 1976 National Book Awards.[10]
In 1982, Steinberg delivered the A. W. Mellon Lecture at the National Gallery of Art.[2]
In 1983, Steinberg published a study into Renaissance depictions of the Christ Child's genitalia.[1] The work, titled The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion, received a mixed response from critics.[1]
In 1983, Steinberg became the first art historian to receive an award for literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.[1]
In 1986, he received a MacArthur Fellowship.[2]
In 1995, he delivered the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures at Harvard University.[2]
In 2000, he published Encounters with Rauschenberg, based on a lecture about Robert Rauschenberg.[1]
In 2001, he published Leonardo's Incessant Last Supper.[1]
Writing style
[edit]In 1974, Roger Shattuck praised Steinberg for his "strong sense of style" but noted that he "tend[s] to overwrite".[11]
In a review of Michelangelo's Last Paintings, John Russell complimented the passion evident in Steinberg's work, writing that:
To the discipline of art history he brings a chivalric intent and, with that, a depth and a density of emotional commitment which are quite exceptional. When we read him we feel ourselves in the company not of one of art history's accountants, but of an ardent and vulnerable nature which is stretching itself to the utmost.[9]
Academic career
[edit]In 1960, he received a doctorate from the New York University Institute of Fine Art with a thesis on Francesco Borromini.[1]
In 1960, he became a professor of art history at Hunter College, part of the City University of New York.[1]
In 1975, he left Hunter College and began teaching at the University of Pennsylvania.[1]
In 1991, Steinberg retired from the University of Pennsylvania.[1]
In the early 2000s, Steinberg taught at the University of Texas at Austin.[1]
Art collection
[edit]In 2002, he donated his private collection of 3,200 prints to the University of Texas at Austin.[1]
The collection included works by a variety of artists, including:
Personal life
[edit]In 1962,[1] Steinberg married Dorothy Seiberling (1922–2019), an art critic who worked as senior art editor for Life and served as deputy editor of The New York Times Magazine. Her mother was Henrietta Buckler Seiberling and her grandfather was Frank Seiberling, a founder of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company.[12] Steinberg and Seiberling later divorced,[1] and she married film producer Sidney J. Stiber.[12]
Steinberg was a heavy smoker, once noting that his only period without writing was when he attempted to quit smoking in the 1960s.[1]
Steinberg died at his Manhattan home on March 13, 2011.[1]
Legacy
[edit]Awards and honours
[edit]- Arts and Letters category of the National Book Awards (1973; nominated for Other Criteria: Confrontations With Twentieth-Century Art)[8]
- Arts and Letters category of the National Book Awards (1976; nominated for Michelangelo's Last Paintings: The Conversion of St. Paul and The Crucifiction of St. Peter in the Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace)[10]
Publications
[edit]Books
[edit]| Title | Time of first publication | First edition publisher/publication | Unique identifier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashes and Fire | 1947 | New York: International Universities Press | OCLC 6228926 | Written by Jacob Pat; translated by Leo Steinberg. |
| Mary | 1949 | New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons | OCLC 1315482714 | Written by Sholem Asch; translated by Leo Steinberg. |
| Other Criteria: Confrontations With Twentieth-Century Art | 1972 | New York: Oxford University Press | OCLC 71329862 | |
| Michelangelo's Last Paintings: The Conversion of St. Paul and The Crucifiction of St. Peter in the Cappella Paolina, Vatican Palace | 1975 | New York: Oxford University Press | OCLC 2074544 | |
| The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art and in Modern Oblivion | 1983 | New York: Pantheon | OCLC 34190309 | |
| Encounters with Rauschenberg | 2000 | Chicago: Chicago University Press | OCLC 42935789 | |
| Leonardo's Incessant Last Supper | 2001 | New York: Zone Books | OCLC 43607466 |
Selected articles and essays
[edit]| Title | Time of publication | Journal | Volume (Issue) | Page range | Unique identifier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an Johnson, Ken (March 14, 2011). "Leo Steinberg, Art Historian, Dies at 90". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 13, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Rykwert, Joseph (April 12, 2011). "Leo Steinberg obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
- ^ Steinberg, Leo (2019). Michelangelo's Painting: Selected Essays. University of Chicago Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-226-48243-9. Retrieved October 18, 2023.
- ^ "Aaron Steinberg, Translator, World Jewish Congress Aide". The New York Times. August 18, 1975. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ Samuels, Gertrude (February 22, 1948). "Let the People Speak". The New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ Wagenknecht, Edward (October 9, 1949). "A Novel of Mary". The New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ "The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Lectures". The New York Times. January 18, 1970. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Pace, Eric (March 19, 1973). "National Book Awards Nominates 109". The New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Russell, John (November 23, 1975). "Confessing to Il Papa by painting Paul and Peter". The New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ a b "Candidates Named for Book Awards". The New York Times. March 27, 1976. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ Shattuck, Roger (January 6, 1974). "The Age of the Avant‐Garde". The New York Times. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ^ a b Wertheim, Bonnie (November 24, 2019). "Dorothy Seiberling, Influential Arts Editor, Dies at 97". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 26, 2019. Retrieved October 19, 2023.