Weinberger, Martin

Full Name: Weinberger, Martin

Gender: male

Date Born: 1893

Date Died: 1965

Place Born: Nuremberg (also Nürnberg), Germany

Place Died: New York, NY, USA

Home Country/ies: Germany

Subject Area(s): Italian (culture or style) and sculpture (visual works)

Overview

Tuscan sculpture authority, Michelangelo scholar; New York University professor. Weinberger was raised in Nuremberg, graduating from the Altes Gymnasium in 1912.  He began studying art history and philosophy at the universities of Würzburg under Fritz Knapp, Heidelberg, under Carl Neumann, and with Heinrich Wölfflin in Munich.  His studies were interrupted 1914-1917 to fight as a soldier in World War I; he was badly wounded in the arm. After his recovery he completed his dissertation, also under Wölfflin in 1920.  His dissertation title was Nürnberger Malerei an der Wende der Renaissance und die Anfänge der Dürer­schule (The Painting of Nuremberg at the End of the Renaissance and the Beginning of the School of  Dürer­). It appeared the following year in print. He taught initially as a privatdozent 1921-1922 at the Volkshochschule in Nuremberg. The subsequent years he volunteered at art museums, first at the Münchener Museen (Munich Museums), 1922-1923, then as a research assistant for the Bavarian National Museum, 1925-1925, cataloging the painting collection.  The years 1926-1930 he spent researching Deutsche Kunsthistorischen Institut in Florenz (Florence) initially with a stipend from the Bavarian government. In 1930 he became an assistant at the Theater Museum in Munich (under Franz Rapp) cataloging the print collections. The laws against Jews working in positions of authority invoked in 1933, Weinberger was stripped of his positions.  He immigrated first to Florence, 1933 working as a teacher at the America Center of European Studies and contributing articles for the Enciclopedia Italiana. He moved to London and the Courtauld Institute in 1934, researching until 1936. He emigrated to the United States in 1937 followed by his parents in 1940. After much searching, he secured a position at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts as a lecturer, together with Alfred Salmony.  He also lectured at the University of Pennsylvania, 1938-1942. When Hans Huth relinquished control the University’s Spanish Research and Publications Fund, Weinberger assumed those duties.  In 1947 he was appointed professor at NYU. At his death in 1965, his monograph on Michelangelo sculpture remained unpublished.

Colin T. Eisler characterized Weinberg as one of the expatriates who brought Kunstgeschichte to America (Wendland).

Selected Bibliography

• [dissertation:] Nürnberger Malerei an der Wende der Renaissance und die Anfänge der Dürer­schule. Strassburg 1921;
• Albrecht Dürer.  Munich: Delphin-Verlag,1924;
• “Bronze Statuettes by Giovanni Caccini.”  Burlington Magazine  1 (1931): 231-235;
• and Middeldorf, Ulrich. “Unbeachtete Werke der Brüder Rossellino.” Münchner Jahrbuch (1928): 85-100;
• and Middeldorf, Ulrich. “Französische Figuren des frühen 14. Jahrhunderts in der Tosca­na.”  Pantheon. 1 (1928): 187-190;
• “The Master of S. Giovanni.”  Burlington Magazine 70 (1937): 24-30;
• “Giovanni Pisano: 1. A new discovery. 2. Remarks on the Technique of the Master’s workshop.” Burlington Magazine   70 (1937): 54-60;
• “Nino Pisano.” Art Bulletin 19 (1937): 58-91;
• “‘New’ Rembrandts.” The Magazine of Art 30, 1937;
• “13th Century Frescoes at Montepiano.” Art in America  27 (1939): 49-73;
• “A Bronze Bust by Hans Multscher.” Art Bulletin 22 (1940): 185-189;
• The George Gray Barnard Collection. Robinson Galleries, New York 1941;
• “Silkweaves of Lucca and Venice in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture.” Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club. 1941;
• “The First Facade of the  Cathedral of Florence.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 4 (1941): 67-79;
• “A Portrait Bust by Pietro Torregiani. A document of early medieval architecture. A Dutch painting by P. van Noort.” Compleat Collector. 1944;
• “A Gothic Model by the School of Jacques Morel.” Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 1945;
• “A Bust of Antonio Galli in the Frick Collection.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 27 (1945): 257-270;
• “A Sixteenth Century Restorer.” Art Bulletin (1945): 266-269;
• “A High Renaissance Madonna (by Jacone). An Italian Reliquary Bust of  the early 15th century. A. Boucher’s ‘A la terre’.” Compleat Collector. (1945);
• “Recumbent Tomb Statue of a Knight in the Philadelphia Museum.” Art Quarterly (1945);
• “Three Paintings by Masters of the School of Utrecht. Original and Copy. A  Newly Discovered Portrait by Antoine Vestier.” Compleat Collector (1945);
• “An Early Woodcut of the ‘Man of Sorrows’ at the Art Institute, Chicago.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 29 (1946): 347-362;
• “A French Model of the 15th Century.” Journal of the Walters Art Gallery  9 (1946): 9-22;
• “Notes on Maitre Michiel.” Burlington Magazine (1948); “Rembrandt’s Portrait of Constantijn a Renesse.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 34 (1948): 23-32;
• “A Renaissance Restorer (Valerio Cioli).” Art Bulletin (1949);
• “A Bronze Bust in the Frick Collection.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts (1951);
• “A Bronze statuette in the Frick Collection and  its connection with Michelangelo.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 39 (1952): 103;
• “Nicola Pisano and the Tradition of Tuscan Pulpits.” Gazette des Beaux-Arts 55 (1960): 129-146;
• Michelangelo, the Sculptor. New York: Columbia University Press, 1967.

Sources

• Wendland, Ulrike. Biographisches Handbuch deutschsprachiger Kunsthistoriker im Exil: Leben und Werk der unter dem Nationalsozialismus verfolgten und vertriebenen Wissenschaftler. Munich: Saur, 1999, vol. 2, pp. 724-727;
• Bober, Harry. The Gothic Tower and the Stork Club. https://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/fineart/about/history-bober.htm

Archives

Martin Weinberger Archives, National Gallery of Art

https://library.nga.gov/permalink/01NGA_INST/1p5jkvq/alma991723973804896