 |
Holger Klein
Holger Klein was educated in Art History, Early Christian
Archaeology and German Literature at the Universities of Freiburg
im Breisgau, Munich, London (Courtauld Institute of Art), and Bonn.
His research focuses on Early Christian, Western Medieval, and Byzantine
art and architecture, and, more specifically, on the problem of cultural
exchange between Byzantium and the Latin West. His most recent archaeological
project is a survey of three closely related third-century sanctuaries
in the Hawran region in Southern Syria. Click
to browse an abbreviated list of Professor Klein's publications.
Assistant Professor of Art History and Archaeology
Ph.D., Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität, 2000 (Byzantine,
early Christian, and Western Medieval art and archaeology)
903 Schermerhorn Hall
Office Hours: W 9:00–11:00AM
Telephone: (212) 854-3230
E-mail: hak56@columbia.edu
Bulletin Description
A survey of the art and culture of Medieval Europe from the late 5th
through the late 11th centuries with particular emphasis on the arts
and culture of the Carolingian and Ottonian empires.
Course Rationale
While the Department of Art History and Archaeology
has offered lecture courses on ‘Early Christian and Byzantine
Art’, ‘Early Christian and Early Medieval Art’, and
‘Gothic Art’ in the past, there has not yet been a course
that focused exclusively on the history, art, and culture of Early
Medieval Europe. Designed as a course for graduate and advanced undergraduate
students, the aim of this lecture course is two-fold: on the one hand
it will provide a comprehensive survey of the most important monuments
of Early Medieval art and architecture from the fifth through the
eleventh centuries, on the other hand it will challenge the modern
concept of Medieval art (as opposed to Classical and Renaissance art)
by exploring the continuing importance of Classical themes and traditions
in the arts of Carolingian and Ottonian Germany. As such, the course
will lay the historical and art historical basis for a graduate seminar
entitled ‘Continuity and Change between Late Antiquity and the
Middle Ages’ offered by Professor Richard Brilliant and myself
in the Spring of 2003.
Course Description
This lecture course, designed for graduate and advanced
undergraduate students, offers a survey of the most important monuments,
themes, and developments of Early Medieval art, spanning chronologically
from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century
to the Investiture Conflict at the end of the eleventh and beginning
of the twelfth centuries. The course will explore the formation of
Western Medieval culture and its relationship to the Late Antique
tradition, the establishment of a Western Roman Empire under Charlemagne
and its cultural and artistic implications, and the continuation of
the Carolingian cultural and artistic achievements under the Ottonian
and Salien emperors of the tenth and eleventh centuries. Topics of
special interest will include the function of art and architecture
as a means of imperial self-representation, the role of bishops, abbots,
and abbesses as patrons of the arts, the problem of cultural exchange
between the Byzantine and the German empires, the development of Medieval
church architecture and its function as a liturgical space, and the
production methods and use of liturgical books and sacred vessels.
The lecture will end with an exploration of the emergence of the ‘Romanesque’
as a decidedly European stylistic phenomenon.
back to top
|
