American Voices. Remarks on the Earlier History of Art History in the United States and the Reception of Germanic Art Historians

Abstract

This essay presents a critique of recent historiographic considerations of German art historians in the United States. It traces this history back to Johann Valentin Haidt in the eighteenth century. Using Princeton as a point of reference, it traces the innovations in the history of the discipline in the United States that were developed largely independent of the impact of German émigrés, and then turns to consider the possible impact of German speakers. Finally it takes issue with the idea of German Jewish identity in art history