Specialist in classical Greek and Roman art. Alscher studied under Ernst Buschor at Munich, and was charged with reorganizing the Archaeological Institute at the University of Jena after World War II in 1945. In 1951, he moved to a professorship at the Humboldt University in (East) Berlin, where he was named an ordentliche (full) Professor in 1953. Published a four-volume history of the development of Greek sculpture, that was influenced by his training in the analysis of forms.
AAT