By Emily Schneider
Title: Philipp P Fehl Papers, 1996-2002
Predominant Dates:1996-2002
ID: 12/3/31
Creator: Fehl, Philipp P. (1920-2000)
Extent: 0.2 cubic feet
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by date of publication.
Date Acquired: 04/03/2015
Languages: German [ger], Italian [ita], English [eng]
Philipp P. Fehl (1920-2000) was an artist and art historian. Born in Austria to a Jewish craftsman, he became a refugee after the annexation of Austria in 1940. His family moved to England and then to the United States. Fehl studied at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, studying with Ulrich Middeldorf, but temporarily ceased his studies during WWII to become an interogator. He served in this capacity during the Nuremberg Trials of 1946-1947. Following his military service, he attended Standford University, earning a bachelors degree in Romance Languages. In 1948, he received his masters in Art History from Stanford. Following this, he served as a Belgian-American Educational Foundation Fellow at the 1952 Brussels Art Seminar. In that same year, he became a research fellow at the Warburg Institute of the University of London. In 1963 he received his PhD from the University of Chicago, writing a dissertation on the subject of morality in Greek and Roman scuplture. In 1967 he became an Art Historian in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.
In 1969, he joined the art faculty at the University of Illinois. As a professor, Fehl also found time to produce solo art shows, many of which took place locally at the Krannert Art Museum, the Anderson Gallery, Nature's Table Restuarant, the Department of Art and Design Building. He also presented shows as far away as Frankfurt am Main, Venice, and Tel Aviv. During his time at the University of Illinois, Fehl wrote four books and nearly one hundred articles on Renaissance art; he would eventually write or contribute to eleven books. His research led to him being named a Fellow with the National Endowment for the Humanities in 1977. Fehl served as associate within the Center for Advanced Study at Illinois until his retirement in 1990. In that same year, Fehl initiated the Cicognara Project, an open access digitization project of Renaissance-era texts, at the Vatican Library with his wife, Raina. Fehl died in Rome, Italy in 2000.
Acquisition Source: Deloris Holiman
Acquisition Method: Gift.