Conant, Kenneth John, 1894-1984

Kenneth John Conant (June 28, 1894 – March 3, 1984) was an American architectural historian and educator, who specialized in medieval architecture. Born in Neenah, Conant received a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from Harvard University in 1915. He was considered the academic heir of Herbert Langford Warren, a teacher at Harvard, and through him, of the art historians Charles Eliot Norton and John Ruskin. He served in the 42nd Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and was wounded in the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918. Conant later returned to Harvard. His dissertation on the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral was published as a monograph in 1926. In 1916, Denman Ross painted a portrait of Conant, now in the Harvard Art Museums.

Conant's professional focus was the study of the Cluny Abbey in France, which he excavated beginning in 1927, funded by his first of five separate Guggenheim Fellowships. He considered Cluny the preeminent accomplishment in all of architectural history. In 1940, a group of students, who studied under Conant, formed the Society of Architectural Historians under his influence. Conant taught architectural history at Harvard from 1924 to 1955, the year of his retirement.