Full Name: Capps, Edward, Jr.
Gender: male
Date Born: 1902
Date Died: 1969
Place Born: Chicago, Cook, IL, USA
Place Died: Oxford, Amite, MS, USA
Home Country/ies: United States
Career(s): educators
Overview
Early art historian at Oberlin College. Capps’ father was a Princeton University classicist and director of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Edward Capps, Sr. (1866-1950). The younger Capps was born while his father was on the faculty of the fledgling University of Chicago. From his father he learned a devotion to languages and classical studies. After receiving his A.B. from Princeton in 1924, he continued to Harvard University for his master’s degree, receiving both that and the Princeton M.F.A., which scholars of art history were granted, in 1927. He joined the faculty of Oberlin College the same year with a joint appointment in both Classical Studies and Art, while pursing a Ph.D. degree at Princeton. At Princeton, Capps worked closely with Charles Rufus Morey. However, Capps disagreed with Morey’s view of Byzantine art stemming from either neo-Attic or Alexandrine models. He declined to have Morey supervise his dissertation, which was accepted in 1931. At Oberlin, Capps taught both medieval and ancient art history courses. He retired from the College in 1968 after teaching at Oberlin for 41 years. His son, Edward Capps III, is also a classicist.
Selected Bibliography
“The Style of the Consular Diptychs.” Art Bulletin 10 (1927): 61-101; “Red-figured Pitcher by Douris.” Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 13 no. 1 (1955): 4-10.
Sources
Kleinbauer, W. Eugene. Modern Perspectives in Western Art History: An Anthology of 20th-Century Writings on the Visual Arts. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971, p. 59 mentioned; Kleinbauer, W. Eugene. Research Guide to the History of Western Art. Sources of Information in the Humanities, no. 2. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982, p. 63 mentioned; Weitzmann, Kurt. “The Contribution of the Princeton University Department of Art and Archaeology to the Study of Byzantine Art.” Byzantium at Princeton: Byzantine Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. Curcic, Slobodan, and St. Clair, Archer, eds. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Library, Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections, 1986, pp. 11-30; Kourelis, Kostis. “Byzantium and the Avant-Garde.” Hesperia 76 (2007): 427; personal correspondence, Oberlin College Archives, 2008; [obituary:] Allen Memorial Art Museum Bulletin 27 no. 2 (Winter 1970): 103-4.