The Project
Publications
The New English Translation and Critical Edition of Principles
Wölfflin’s Kunstgeschichliche Grundbegriffe was first translated into English as Principles of Art History in 1932 by Marie D. Hottinger (1893-1978), a Scottish writer and translator. While the original edition appeared with George Bell and Sons in London, most subsequent editions were published by publishers located in the U.S. where there was and still is a much larger market for the book. Hottinger, who married a Swiss national, was a long-time resident of Zurich and indeed she met with Wölfflin to discuss the translation. We know that he read at least part of it and approved it, though Wölfflin’s knowledge of English was likely limited. The new translation by Jonathan Blower, and edited by Weddigen and Levy, native speakers of German and English, respectively, is the result of a close collaboration. Blower’s elegant and fluid new translation aimed to restore the conversational ease of the book. Attention was paid to preserving Wölfflin’s voice, tone and emphases. We restored Wölfflin’s approach throughout, including his minimal captions. The editors approached the translation as a critical edition, restoring all of Wölfflin’s prefaces to the editions published in his lifetime, recreating as much as possible his original photo archive, adding editorial notes, and, importantly, two new critical introductions by Levy and Weddigen.
Heinrick Wölfflin, Gesammelte Schriften
Tristan Weddigen and Oskar Bätschmann are editing Wölfflin’s Gesammelte Schriften (collected works). The critical edition will include the major book publications, minor publications, and a substantial body of unpublished lecture notes and writings. Fifteen volumes are planned. The Gesammelte Schriften, a project funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, is to be published by the Schwabe Verlag (Basel). Weddigen and Bätschmann are assisted by Elisabeth Gamer and Karolina Zgraja on the project. For more information click here.
