Josef Strzygowski (1862 - 1941) was an influential and controversial art historian.

He is well known for his theories on the importance of Eastern influence in European. His Orient oder Rom (Orient or Rome) argued that Medieval European architecture drew heavilly from Middle Eastern traditions. This went against the prevailing contemporary wisdom that Christian art had primarilly Classical origins.

Strzygowski's work on the architecture of Armenia has been particularly influential. His Die Baukunst der Armenier und Europa (The Architecture of Armenia and Europe) was the first systematic attempt to study the origins and influence of Armenian architecture. It traced the development of an "Aryan" architectural form from largely Eastern and indigenous influences.

The quality of Strzygowski's scholarship has been widely criticized, but even more controversial were the racial and political overtones of his work. He was unabashedly anti-semitic, and his work foreshadowed the ideas later espoused by Nazism.

External link

• Duke University Art Library - biography

References

• Christina Maranci, Medieval Armenian Architecture: Constructions of Race and Nation