Fritz Grossmann

Fritz Grossmann, art historian. Born 26 June 1902 in Stanislau, (then Kingdom of Galicia in the Austro-Hungarian, Empire), now Ivano-Frankivsk in the Ukraine, died 16 November 1984, Croydon, London; Deputy Director, Manchester City Art Gallery; Professor of Art History, University of Washington, Seattle.

Fritz Grossmann was the son of a Surgeon-General in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He studied art history at the University of Vienna under Josef Strzygowski. He also attended lectures by Julius von Schlosser, Hans Tietze, Swoboda and Heinrich Gluck. He graduated in 1927 and completed his doctorate in 1932. His thesis was a study of the High Altar in the Benedictine Scottish Monastery in Vienna Die Passions- und Marienlebenfolge im Wiener Schottenstift und ihre Stellungin der Wiener Malerei der Spätgotik. Through his close friendship with other members of the Vienna School of Art History, most notably Fritz Novotny and Hans Tietze, he became closely connected with the promotion of the work of contemporary artists in Vienna. He was close friends with artists and sculptors such as Georg Erhlich, Bettina Erhlich, Gerhart Frankl, Fritz Wotruba, Georg Merkel, Theodore Fried, Lisel Salzer and Lois Pregartbauer. These were mainly artists who were part of the Hagenbund and had connections with the Zinkenbacher Malerkolonie on the Wolfgangsee. He was employed as a lecturer in the Volkhochschule, taking part in their Art History Urania promotion programme and he also gave regular broadcasts on art history on Radio Vienna. From 1930 onwards he was the Austrian Editor of the Czech magazine for contemporary art Forum and also a contributor to Belvedere.