Kenneth John Conant
Kenneth John Conant (June 28, 1894 – March 3, 1984) was an American architectural historian and educator, who specialized in medieval architecture. Conant is known for his studies of Cluny Abbey.
Kenneth John Conant | |
|---|---|
_-_1975.52_-_Fogg_Museum.jpg.webp) Painting of Kenneth John Conant by Denman Waldo Ross (1916) | |
| Born | Kenneth John Conant June 28, 1894 |
| Died | March 3, 1984 (aged 89) Bedford, Massachusetts, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Architectural historian Educator |
| Spouse | Marie Schneider |
| Children | 2 |
| Parent(s) | John F. Conant Lucie Mickelsen |
| Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Thesis | The Early Architectural History of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (1925) |
| Influences | Herbert Langford Warren Charles Eliot Norton John Ruskin |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Medieval architecture |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
Career
Born in Neenah, Conant received a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from Harvard University in 1915.[1] He was considered the academic heir of Herbert Langford Warren, a teacher at Harvard, and through him, of the art historians Charles Eliot Norton and John Ruskin.[2] He served in the 42nd Infantry Division of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I and was wounded in the Second Battle of the Marne in 1918. Conant later returned to Harvard. His dissertation on the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral was published as a monograph in 1926.[3]
Conant's lifework was the study of the Cluny Abbey in France, which he excavated beginning in 1927, funded by his first of five separate Guggenheim Fellowships. He considered Cluny the preeminent accomplishment in all of architectural history.[4]
Conant was an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.[5][6] He taught architectural history at Harvard from 1924 to 1955, the year of his retirement.[7]
Legacy
In 1916, Denman Ross painted a portrait of Conant, now in the Harvard Art Museums.[8]
In 1940, a group of students, who studied under Conant, formed the Society of Architectural Historians under his influence.[9]
References
- Fergusson, Peter (1985). "Kenneth John Conant (1895-1984)". Gesta. 24 (1): 87–88. doi:10.1086/ges.24.1.766935. JSTOR 766935. S2CID 192104410.
- Conant, Kenneth John (1959). Carolingian and Romanesque Architecture 800-1200. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books.
- Conant, Kenneth John (1926). The early architectural history of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
- Conant, Kenneth John (1932). "The Apse at Cluny". Speculum. 7 (1): 23–35. doi:10.2307/2848318. JSTOR 2848318. S2CID 162194647.
- "Kenneth John Conant". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-01-24.
- Fergusson, Peter (1990). "Medieval Architectural Scholarship in America, 1900-1940: Ralph Adams Cram and Kenneth John Conant". Studies in the History of Art. 35 (Symposium Papers XIX: The Architectural Historian in America): 127–142. JSTOR 42620506.
- "From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Kenneth J. Conant (1894-1984)".
- Coolidge, John (1984). "Kenneth Conant and the Founding of The American Society of Architectural Historians". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 43 (3): 193–194. doi:10.2307/990000. JSTOR 990000.