Department of Art History, University of Birmingham
Abstract
This article considers the impact of the work of Josef Strzygowski in Serbia and, after 1918, Yugoslavia. Although he was a controversial figure in Austria, his work was very positively received in Serbian intellectual and political circles. In particular, Strzygowski’s interest in Serbian art was seen as culturally and politically empowering in a state that was still concerned to gain recognition in Europe in the early twentieth century. Although there was a history of antagonism between Serbia and Austria-Hungary, the symbolism of the fact that a leading representative of the University of Vienna had a sympathetic view of Serbian art and culture was not overlooked by the social and cultural elite. The article thus examines the influence of Strzygowski in the light of the wider political context of Serbia and Yugoslavia. It also examines the profile of Strzygowski, after hie death in 1941 arguing that he has continued to serve as an important reference point for Serbian art historians, albeit in a rather more critical manner that was once the case
