List of famous art historians, with photos, bios, and other information when available. Who are the top art historians in the world? This includes the most prominent art historians, living and dead, both in America and abroad. This list of notable art historians is ordered by their level of prominence, and can be sorted for various bits of information, such as where these historic art historians were born and what their nationality is. The people on this list are from different countries, but what they all have in common is that they're all renowned art historians.
This list below has a variety of people, like Igor Kufayev and Johann Joachim Winckelmann, in it.
From reputable, prominent, and well known art historians to the lesser known art historians of today, these are some of the best professionals in the art historian field. If you want to answer the questions, "Who are the most famous art historians ever?" and "What are the names of famous art historians?" then you're in the right place.
Birgit Rausing Birgit Rausing is a Swedish art historian and philanthropist, the widow of Gad Rausing. She is the daughter of Swedish landscape painter Henry Mayne. In 1944 her father-in-law Ruben Rausing ...more
William Rubin William Rubin was the director of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, which he first joined in 1967.
Igor Kufayev Igor Anvar Kufayev, is a Russian British artist, yogi and spiritual teacher. Also known as 'Vamadeva', which means "preserving aspect of Shiva in his peaceful, graceful and poetic
Johann Joachim Winckelmann Johann Joachim Winckelmann was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the difference between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. "The ...more
Henry Geldzahler Henry Geldzahler was a curator of contemporary art in the late 20th century, as well as a modern art art historian and art critic. He is best known for his work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ...more
Cornelius Gurlitt Cornelius Gustav Gurlitt war ein deutscher Architekt und Kunsthistoriker. Er war der Vater des Musikwissenschaftlers Wilibald Gurlitt und des Kunsthistorikers Hildebrand Gurlitt.
Michael Ann Holly Michael Ann Holly is an art historian.
Edith Porada Edith Porada was the Arthur Lehman Professor of Art History and Archeology at Columbia University.
John Elderfield John Elderfield was the Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, from 2003 to 2008.
Aydin Aghdashloo Aydin Aghdashloo is an Iranian painter, author, art critic, art historian and graphic designer. He currently lives in Tehran, Iran, and lectures in different Iranian Universities besides his ...more
Henry Kraus Henry Kraus was a labor historian, and European art historian. He graduated from the University of Chicago and Western Reserve University with a master's degree in 1928. He was an organizer of ...more
Roger Took Roger F. Took was an art historian, museum curator, author and convicted child sex offender who lived in London, Ireland, and Russia. In the course of his career, he ran several museums in ...more
Mary Sheriff Mary D. Sheriff is the W. R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Laurence Sickman Laurence Chalfant Stevens Sickman was an American academic, art historian, sinologist and Director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City.
Herman Friedrich Grimm Herman Grimm was a German academic and writer. Grimm's father was Wilhelm Grimm, and his uncle Jakob Grimm, the philologist compilers of indigenous folk tales. His other uncle was the painter ...more
Simon Schama Simon Michael Schama, CBE is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University, ...more
Ludwig Goldscheider Ludwig Goldscheider was an Austrian-English publisher, art historian, poet and translator who is known for founding the world-renowned Phaidon Press.
Karl von Lützow German art historian and university professor.
Norman Rosenthal Sir Norman Rosenthal is an independent curator and art historian. From 1970 to 74 he was Exhibitions Officer at Brighton Museum and Art Gallery. In 1974 he became a curator at the Institute of ...more
Kenneth Clark Kenneth McKenzie Clark, Baron Clark OM CH KCB FBA was a British author, museum director, broadcaster, and one of the best-known art historians and aestheticians of his generation, writing a ...more
Anna Banti Anna Banti was an Italian writer, art historian, critic, and translator.
Kirk Varnedoe John Kirk Train Varnedoe was an American art historian, the Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art from 1988 to 2001, and a Professor of the History of Art at the ...more
Leo Steinberg Leo Steinberg was an American art critic and art historian and a naturalized citizen of the U.S.
Geoffrey Scott Geoffrey Scott was an English scholar and poet, known as a historian of architecture. His biography of Isabelle de Charrière entitled The Portrait of Zelide won the 1925 James Tait Black ...more
Erwin Panofsky Erwin Panofsky was a German art historian. His academic career was pursued mostly in the U.S. after the rise of the Nazi regime. Panofsky's work remains highly influential in the modern academic ...more
Maximilian Schich Maximilian Schich is a German archaeologist, semantic data analyst and art historian.
Julius Samuel Held Julius Samuel Held was an art historian, collector, and expert on Dutch painters Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck, and Rembrandt. He published several monographs and was a professor of art ...more
Thomas E. Crow Thomas Crow received his Ph.D. from the University of North Texas and works with The Boys and Girls Club of America.
Irma A Richter Art Critic, Author and editor of works by Leonardo da Vinci. Active between about 1910 and 1956
Meyer Schapiro Meyer Schapiro was a Lithuanian-born American art historian known for forging new art historical methodologies that incorporated an interdisciplinary approach to the study of works of art. An ...more
Roy Strong Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and ...more
Andrew Graham-Dixon Andrew Michael Graham-Dixon is a British art historian and broadcaster.
Linda Nochlin Linda Nochlin is an American art historian, university professor and writer. A prominent feminist art historian, she is best known as a proponent of the question "Why Have There Been No ...more
Alfred Vance Churchill Alfred Vance Churchill (1864 - 1949) was an American painter, art historian, and curator.
Whitney B. Halstead Whitney Halstead was an American art historian, and artist. He graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a B.F.A and M.F.A. He taught art history at the School of the Art ...more
Jacob Kainen Jacob Kainen was an American painter and printmaker. He is also known as an art historian, writing books on John Baptist Jackson and the etchings of Canaletto. In addition, Kainen was a ...more
John Richardson Sir John Patrick Richardson, KBE, FBA is a British art historian and Picasso biographer. Richardson has also worked as an industrial designer and as a reviewer for The New Observer. He moved to ...more
Michael Brand Dr Michael Brand is an art scholar from Australia. Throughout his career, Brand has specialised in the art of Asia, in particular Indian art.
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev is an American-Italian writer, art historian and curator. She was the Artistic Director of dOCUMENTA which opened in Kassel on June 9, 2012. Previously, she was the ...more
Hayden Herrera Hayden Herrera is a writer, art historian and biographer.
Cyril Aldred Cyril Aldred FRSE FSA Scot was an English Egyptologist, art historian and author.
Martha Hollander Martha Hollander is an American poet and art historian.
Max Jakob Friedländer Max Jakob Friedländer was a German curator and art historian. He was a specialist in Early Netherlandish painting and the Northern Renaissance, who volunteered at the Kupferstichkabinett or ...more
Gabriela Sodi Gabriela Sodi is an artist and art historian.
Svetlana Alpers Svetlana Leontief Alpers is an American art historian, also a professor, writer and critic. Her specialty is Dutch Golden Age painting, although she has also written on Tiepolo, Rubens, Breugel, ...more
Barbara Haskell Barbara Haskell is an American art historian and a museum curator. She is currently a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, where she has worked since 1975. She has previously worked at ...more
Michael Baxandall Michael David Kighley Baxandall, FBA was a British-born art historian and a professor emeritus of Art History at University of California, Berkeley. He taught at the Warburg Institute, ...more
Camillo Boito Camillo Boito was an Italian architect and engineer, and a noted art critic, art historian and novelist.
