Philipp Fehl
Encyclopedia
Philipp Fehl was an Austrian artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

 and art historian. He emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1941, and became an artist, author and lecturer at several universities. He retired as Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1990. In the same year he and his wife the classicist Raina Fehl
Raina Fehl
Raina Fehl was an Austrian-born American classicist, writer and editor. Immigrated into the United states, 1939. United States citizen since 1944. U.S. Army Service 1945-1946, Psychiatric Social Worker, U.S. War Department, Research Analyst, Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 1946-1947. Married...

, initiated the Cicognara Project at the Vatican Library
Vatican Library
The Vatican Library is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. Formally established in 1475, though in fact much older, it has 75,000 codices from...

. The Fehls lived primarily in Rome from 1990 until his death in 2000. He is buried at Prima Porta in Rome. He and Raina were married for 54 years. Raina died in 2009. They had two daughters, Katharine, "Kathy Fehl", and Caroline Coulston.

Early life

From childhood on he drew and painted whenever possible. He was the oldest child of Hugo and Frieda Fehl and the brother of Arnold Fehl. He was the cousin of the renowned ballet photographer Fred Fehl
Fred Fehl
Fred Fehl was an American photographer of Viennese birth and upbringing. He was the cousin of the Art Historian Philipp Fehl and the inventor and Electrical Engineer Paul Eisler....

. His older cousin, Paul Eisler
Paul Eisler
Paul Eisler was an Austrian inventor born in Vienna. Among his innovations were the printed circuit board.- Early life and education :...

, attended Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...

, and Fehl determined that he also wanted this classical higher education for gifted students.

He was accepted and attended Bundes Real Gymnasium and continued to attend school after the Anschluß. After Matura
Matura
Matura or a similar term is the common name for the high-school leaving exam or "maturity exam" in various countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Serbia,...

, (graduation), he emigrated to England . He worked for a time in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 as an apprentice commercial artist with the firm Stagg Displays before immigrating to the United States of America in 1940, becoming a citizen in 1943.

Early work

From 1941 through 1942 he attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Fine Arts, Painting. In 1943 he enrolled in the US Army. From 1945 to 1946 he worked as instructor to the Office of the Provost Marshal General's re-educational program for German Prisoners of War at Camp Butner, North Carolina. In 1945 he married Raina Fehl
Raina Fehl
Raina Fehl was an Austrian-born American classicist, writer and editor. Immigrated into the United states, 1939. United States citizen since 1944. U.S. Army Service 1945-1946, Psychiatric Social Worker, U.S. War Department, Research Analyst, Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, 1946-1947. Married...

 daughter of the writer Erich Fritz Schweinburg
Erich Fritz Schweinburg
Erich Fritz Schweinburg was a Jewish-Austrian writer and attorney. He is best known for Eine weite Reise, published in Austria, his account of the year he spent as a prisoner in Dachau concentration camp in Nazi....

, also born in Vienna. After his discharge from the Army, he and Raina were given appointments as interrogators at the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal (1946–1947).

Through his work at the trials, he became well acquainted with a number of war criminals who had exercised direct influence on German art as well as others who committed crimes against humanity. He gives detailed descriptions of his work at the trials in the portion of his memoirs entitled "The Ghosts of Nuremberg",
The Atlantic Monthly, vol. 229, no. 3, March 1972, 70–80.

He returned to Stanford University, taking a B.A. in Romance Languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...

, French, and an M.A. in History of Art
History of art
The History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...

. His Master's Thesis, "A Stylistic Analysis of Some Propaganda Posters of World War II", 1948, showed the existence, and defined the formal manifestations of the international "Blut und Boden" style which governed the propaganda art of countries confronting each other in World War II. In 1948 he moved back to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, where he continued his studies at the University of Chicago in painting and graphic arts as well as history of art. At the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, he was friends with the now renowned philosopher, Seth Benardete
Seth Benardete
Seth Benardete was an American classicist and philosopher, long a member of the faculties of New York University and The New School....

 and the comedians Severn Darden
Severn Darden
Severn Teakle Darden, Jr. was a comedian and actor, and an original member of The Second City Chicago-based comedy troupe as well as its predecessor, the Compass Players...

, Elaine May
Elaine May
Elaine May is an American film director, screenwriter and actress. She achieved her greatest fame in the 1950s from her improvisational comedy routines in partnership with Mike Nichols...

 and Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols
Mike Nichols is a German-born American television, stage and film director, writer, producer and comedian. He began his career in the 1950s as one half of the comedy duo Nichols and May, along with Elaine May. In 1968 he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film The Graduate...

. In 1963 he obtained his Ph.D. from the Committee on Social Thought
Committee on Social Thought
The Committee on Social Thought is one of several PhD-granting committees at the University of Chicago. It was started in 1941 by historian John Ulric Nef along with economist Frank Knight, anthropologist Robert Redfield, and University President Robert Maynard Hutchins.The committee is...

 of the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

 (his thesis was partly published in 1972 as “The Classical Monument”, see bibliography).

Teaching

He and his work are discussed in the comic-philosophical novel Harmony Junction by Goddard Graves (2009, privately published).

While studying he also began to teach, 1949–1950 photography with the Youth Program of Temple Sinai, Chicago, 1951–1952 as director of The Bateman School, Chicago, 1951–1954 as a lecturer in art at University College, University of Chicago (“Experimental figure drawing according to 18th century methods”) and 1951–1963 as an instructor in Home Studies, University of Chicago (“Elementary Figure Drawing in the Academic Tradition”). He started academic teaching in 1951 as a lecturer at the University of Chicago and, after holding a number of other academic appointments and receiving numerous honours (see list), retired in 1990 as Professor Emeritus from the University of Illinois.

He began to make pen and ink drawings of bird like characters (who closely resembled him physically) dressed in the peruke and trousers of the 18th century. He called these drawings "capricci". The bulk of these capricci are now preserved in the Exile's archives at the German National Library, das Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

Education

  • School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1940-1942 (Painting).
  • Stanford University
    Stanford University
    The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

    , 1943, 1947-1948. B.A. (Romance Languages) M.A. (History of Art).
  • University of Chicago
    University of Chicago
    The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

     1948-1952, 1963. Ph.D. (History of Art in the Committee on Social Thought).

Teaching

  • University College, University of Chicago
    University of Chicago
    The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

    . Lecturer, 1951-1954.
  • Department of Home Study, University of Chicago. Instructor (part time), 1951-1963.
  • University of Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri. Instructor, 1952-1954.
  • University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Assistant Professor, later Associate Professor, 1954-1963.
  • University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Associate Professor, later Professor, 1963-1969.
  • University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Professor 1969 - 1990. Professor Emeritus, 1990-. Director, Summer Seminar for College Teachers, National Endowment for the Humanities, University of Illinois, 1978 and 198l.
  • Visiting appointments at
    • University of California, Berkeley
      University of California, Berkeley
      The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

      , 1960, 1963;
    • Brown University
      Brown University
      Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

      , 1967; Trinity College at Rome, Summer 197l;
    • Tel Aviv University
      Tel Aviv University
      Tel Aviv University is a public university located in Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv, Israel. With nearly 30,000 students, TAU is Israel's largest university.-History:...

      , Winter, 1982; The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Spring l992.
    • Central European University, Prague, Spring 1993.

Honors

  • Fellow, Brussels Art Seminar, Belgian-American Educational Foundation, 1952.
  • Research Fellow, Warburg Institute of the University of London, 1952-53.
  • Associate, Committee on Social Thought, University of Chicago, 1963-2000.
  • Art Historian in Residence, American Academy in Rome
    American Academy in Rome
    The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome.- History :In 1893, a group of American architects, painters and sculptors met regularly while planning the fine arts section of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...

    , 1967-1968.
  • Fellow, National Endowment for the Humanities, 1977-1978.
  • Associate, Center for Advanced Study, University of Illinois, 1970–1971, 1981–82, 1989-90. Resident Associate, l990-2000.

Offices

  • Committee for Awards in the Humanities, American Council of Learned Societies, 1965-1969.
  • Committee for the Administration of the Medieval and Renaissance Institute of Duke University and the University of North Carolina, 1966-1969.
  • Editor for Book Reviews, The Art Bulletin, 1965-1968.
  • Board of Directors, College Art Association of America, 1967-1971.
  • Central Illinois Archaeological Society (American Institute of Archaeology), President, 1973–1975; Board of Directors, 1975-1977.
  • Advisory Council, The Dunlap Society, Washington, D.C., 1975-1977.
  • Selection Committee for Kress Fellows, Institute of International Education, New York, 1976-1978.
  • Publication Committee, Midwest Art History Society, 1976-1978.
  • Advisory Council, Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1975- .
  • Board of Reviewers for grant proposals, NEH Division of Public Programs, 1977- .
  • International Survey of Jewish Monuments, President, 1977–97, Advisory Council, 1997-2000.
  • Board of Directors, Midwest Medieval Society of America, 1980-83.
  • Consultant editor, Dictionary of the History of Classical Archaeology, ed. Nancy de Grummond, 1983-1996.
  • Art Bulletin Committee, College Art Association of America, 1968-91.
  • Advisory Council, American Academy in Rome, l982-1990.
  • Advisory Council, Committee for the Advancement of Early Studies, Ball State University, 1986-2000.
  • Director, The Leopoldo Cicognara
    Leopoldo Cicognara
    Count Leopoldo Cicognara was an Italian archaeologist and writer on art.-Biography:Cicognara was born in Ferrara, Italy....

     Program at the University of Illinois Library, dedicated to the study and promulgation of literary sources in the history of art, 1987-2000.

Membership in Learned Societies

College Art Association of America, Renaissance Society of America, South Eastern Renaissance Society, Central Renaissance Society, American Society for Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Midwest Art History Society, Midwest Medieval Society of America, International Survey of Jewish Monuments.
  • Honorary Associate, Centro Studi Monopolis: Arte e Cultura, Monopoli, Puglia, 1984-2000.
  • Corresponding Member, Ateneo Veneto, Venice, 1988-2000.
  • Corresponding Member, Braunschweigische Wissenschafliche Gesellschaft, Klasse für Geisteswissenschaften, 1992-.

Listed in

  • Directory of American Scholars
  • Who's Who in American Art
  • Who's Who in Austria
  • Dictionary of International Biography
  • The Writers Directory
  • Who's Who in the Midwest
  • International Authors and Writers Who's Who
  • Who's Who in Europe
  • Who's Who in Society

Artist

Capricci
Pen and Ink:
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/lot_details.aspx?intObjectID=5211898
http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/fehlp.htm
Oils

Publications of Works of Art

Carolina Quarterly, Winter 1966, 21–27.
Sample Copy, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1968: “Series”, 5 pages.
Lillabulero, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, VII, 1969, 86, 96, 100.
The Bird (serigraph and original pen and ink drawings), Finial Press, Urbana, Illinois, 1970.
Capricci, selection and introduction by Wilfried Skreiner, Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, 1971. Also Published in German, same title.
Voyages, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, IV, 1971, nos. 1–2, 39, 63, 67; nos. 3–4, 64, 65, 85, 89, 163; V, 1973–1974, nos. 1–4, 109.
Au Verso (St. John’s College, Sante Fe, New Mexico), 1972, “Aging”, 10 pages.
North Carolina Museum of Art Bulletin, XII, 1975, no. 4; 11.
Archaeological News, IV, 1975, no. 1; 7, 11.
Polity, Summer 1977, title page.
Birds of a Feather (with an introduction by Maurice Cope), University of Illinois Press, Champaign, Illinois, 1991.

Critiques and reproduction of drawings in newspapers

Daily Tar Heel,
The Courier,
The News-Gazette,
Kleine Zeitung, Kultur,
William and Mary News,
The Cavalier Daily,
Illini Week.

One Man Shows

Art Gallery of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1968, 1970.

Neue Galerie am Joanneum, Graz, "Capricci," 1971.

Roberts Gallery, London, 1971.

Galerie im Stock, Vienna, Austria, 1973.

Folger Shakespeare Library (Ann Hathaway Gallery), Washington D.C. "Birds on Crutches," 1973.

Peoria Art Guild, Peoria, Illinois, "Birds of a Feather," 1975.

University of Illinois (Department of Art and Design), 1969, 1974.

College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, 1977.

Kenyon College, Gambier, Ohio, "New Capricci," 1979.

Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass., "New Capricci," 1979.

Società Dante Alighieri, Venice, Italy, 1980-81.

Department of Art, Tel Aviv University, 1982.

Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, 1982.

Kunsthistorisches Institut, Universität Kiel, 1983.

Gallery ?Nature's Table?, Urbana, Illinois, 1984.

University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, Virginia, April–June 1986 (a retrospective exhibition of Capricci: "A Poet's Progress"). Catalogue essay by Paul Barolsky.

University of Delaware Perkins Student Center Gallery, A Poet's Progress," April l987.

Hallside Gallery at the University of Utah, Department of Medical Illustration, Salt Lake City, "Capricci," October–November, 1987.

Gallery ?Nature's Table?, Urbana, Illinois, "New Capricci," November–December 1987.

Gallery 107 Mercer Street, New York, New York, "Capricci," April–May, 1989.

Krannert Museum of Art and Kinkaid Pavilion, "Birds of a Feather," September, l991.

Miracles Cafe", Cardiff By The Sea, California, "Capricci" June–July 1992.

Central European University, Prague, "Birds of a Feather," Spring, 1993.

Exil Archiv, Die Deutsche Bibliotek, Adickesallee 1, D-60322 Frankfurt am Main, November 2001 through early January 2002.

Group Shows

Exline, Fehl, and Lancaster, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, 1971.

Figures, The Anderson Gallery, Champaign, Illinois: April–May, 1986.

Rethinking the Avant-Garde, Kotonah Gallery, Kotonah, New York, April–May, 1986: catalogue by Jonathan Fineberg.

Annual Exhibitions

Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago, 1948-1963. (drawings, prints, glass-etchings).

University of Illinois Faculty Show, Krannert Art Museum, 1969-1986.

Works in Public Collections

Neue Galerie am Joanneum, Graz, Austria.

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, N.C.

Krannert Art Museum and Kinkaid Pavilion (University of Illinois), Champaign, Illinois.

U.S. Embassy to the Czech Republic, Prague

External links

  • http://www.philippfehl.com/
  • http://www.ranafehl.com/
  • http://www.cicognara.com/
  • http://openlibrary.org/a/OL735689A/Philipp-P.-Fehl
  • http://books.google.com/books?id=EvKlY7c7z9AC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=Philipp+Fehl&source=bl&ots=OmgkDsfVak&sig=fjZIT4pi7vn7Gm6yWluikAPbo9A&hl=en&ei=gphHSubFJ43UMuLklZcB&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1
  • http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/2860281
  • http://www.jstor.org/pss/1483726
  • http://www.d-nb.de/sammlungen/dea/samml_bestaende/archivalien/exil_nachlaesse.htm
  • http://www.jstor.org/pss/1483726
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