Kitzinger, Ernst, 1912-

Biographical/Historical Note

Ernst Kitzinger, an art historian specializing in Byzantine, early Christian, and early medieval art, was born in Munich, Germany on December 27, 1912. He wrote and lectured on a wide variety of artistic media, but is perhaps best known for his scholarship on Byzantine mosaics. The diverse research topics that make up his life's work are informed by the premise that form has meaning and that changes in form and style have something to tell us about what is happening in the society of that time.

Kitzinger pursued his graduate studies at the Universities of Munich and Rome, receiving his Ph.D. from the University on Munich in 1934. Upon completing his degree, he resided briefly in Rome, and then in London from 1935 to 1940, where he was an Assistant at the British Museum.

Kitzinger spent the greater part of his career at Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, D.C., from 1941 to 1966, where he was, successively, a Junior Fellow and Fellow (1941-1946), Assistant Professor of Byzantine Art and Archeology (1946-1951), Associate Professor (1951-1956), Professor (1956-1967), and Director of Studies (1955-1966). During his tenure as Director of Studies, field work projects were developed and supported, the publications program became firmly established, Dumbarton Oaks Papers became an annual journal, and the library holdings increased substantially.

Kitzinger then left Dumbarton Oaks to teach courses and seminars at Harvard University as the Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor (1967-79). In 1979, he became the Emeritus Arthur Kingsley Porter University Professor. In addition, Kitzinger was a Fulbright Scholar in Sicily (1950-1951); a Guggenheim Fellow in Italy, Greece, Yugoslavia and Turkey (1953-1954); a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University (1966-1967, 1980, and 1982); Slade Professor of fine art at the University of Cambridge (1974-1975); and Visiting Distinguished Professor, University of Washington, Seattle (1989).

From the guide to the Ernst Kitzinger papers, 1931-1995, (Getty Research Institute)