The international spread of Asian and Islamic art histories: an intersectional approach to trajectories of the Vienna School (c. 1920 – 1970)

Abstract

Strzygowski’s art historical institute in Vienna was unique not only as a resource for the study of ‘Oriental’ art, but also in its gender-balance: between 37% and 54% of the graduates were women. This article takes the Strzygowskian graduates – women and men – as starting point to trace their professional trajectories in Vienna and the world. It pursues the twofold aim of combining a historical study with a critique of patriarchal patterns of historiography: Theoretically, the article deconstructs the ‘unconscious androcentrism’ of art historiography, which consists of linguistic and methodological patterns that reproduce patriarchy. The historical study then aims to reconstruct the history of the achievements of Vienna-trained art historians in the field of Asian and Islamic art history. Key question to the historical material is how gender, the Austrian university education, and religion intersected in specific local and temporal situations.