Full Name: Matz, Friedrich
Other Names:
- Friedrich Matz der Jünger
Gender: male
Date Born: 1890
Date Died: 1974
Place Born: Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Place Died: Marburg, Hesse, Germany
Home Country/ies: Germany
Subject Area(s): ancient, Ancient Greek (culture or style), Classical, Cretan, Mediterranean (Early Western World), Near Eastern (Early Western World), Roman (ancient Italian culture or period), and seals (artifacts)
Institution(s): Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster
Overview
Specialist in ancient art of Crete, Rome, and the near East, in particular the art of seals. Matz was the nephew of archaeologist Friedrich Matz (1843-1874), and was often referred to as “der Jünger” (the younger). The younger Matz began his career as teacher at the Grauen Kloster gymnasium (advanced high school) in Berlin, 1914-1925. During these years he assisted in editing with Eugen von Mercklin volume two of the printed catalog of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut library begun by August Mau. In 1928, Matz published an ground-breaking text on the seals of Crete, Die frühkretischen Siegel. He joined the University at Münster in 1934, remaining there until 1941 when he moved to Marburg University (1941-1958). As a compromise candidate, was elected Rektor of Marburg in the difficult postwar years 1946-47. He was the editor of the Corpus der antiken Sarkophagreliefs and was the founder of the Archaeologica Homerica and Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel. Matz was also a specialist in Roman art and in later years and assumed the editor of Die Römischen Sarkophagreliefs from Carl Robert. He published a four-volume set on sarchophgi containing Bacchanal motifs. His students included Bernard Andreae. Strongly influenced by the work of Hans Sedlmayr and the Vienna School, he was one of the earlier proponents of structuralist theory (Strukturforschung), a German theoretical notion attempting to replace the concept of style with a spatial structural analysis, which was linked to cultural identity, for ancient art. His influence on the classical-era art methodology was as important as those of Aloïs Riegl and Heinrich Wölfflin. Other Strukturforschung scholars of ancient art included Bernhard Schweitzer and Guido Kaschnitz von Weinberg and Gerhard Krahmer.
Selected Bibliography
Geschichte der griechischen Kunst. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann, 1950; Die frühkretischen Siegel: eine Untersuchung über das Werden des minoischen Stiles. Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1928; Die dionysischen Sarkophage. 4 vols. Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1968-1975; Kreta und frühes Griechenland: Prolegomena zur Griechischen Kunstgeschichte. Baden-Baden: Holle Verlag, 1962, English, The Art of Crete and Early Greece: the Prelude to Greek Art. New York: Crown Publishers 1962; Dädalische Kunst auf Kreta im 7. Jahrhundert v. Chr. Mainz am Rhein: P. von Zabern 1970; and Buchholz, Hans Günter. Archaeologia Homerica: die Denkmäler und das frühgriechische Epos. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967 ff; and Biesantz, Hagen, and Pini, Ingo. Corpus der minoischen und mykenischen Siegel. Berlin, Mann, 1964; Göttererscheinung und Kultbild im minoischen Kreta. Mainz: Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur, Wiesbaden, [by] F. Steiner, 1958; Katalog der Bibliothek des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts in Rom. Rome: Löscher, 1913-1932.
Sources
Kleinbauer, W. Eugene. Research Guide to the History of Western Art. Sources of Information in the Humanities, no. 2. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982, 86 mentioned; Archäologenbildnisse: Porträts und Kurzbiographien von Klassichen Archäologen deutscher Sprache. Reinhard Lullies, ed. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 1988: 250-251; Catalogus professorum academiae Marburgensis. Die akademischen Lehrer der Philipps-Universität Marburg. vol II, 1911-1971. Inge Auerbach, ed. Marburg: N.G. Elwert Verlag (Kommissionsverlag), 1979.
Contributors: Lee Sorensen