Journal of Art Historiography (Dec 2017)
Why Max Dvořák did not become a Professor in Prague
Abstract
In 1903, the Czech University in Prague proceeded to fill the vacant chair in Art History. The Philosophical Faculty chose the mediocre – and subsequently quite forgotten – Bohumil Matějka, intentionally bypassing the clearly more competent Max Dvořák, the most famous Czech-born historian of art. According the report of the committee which had decided to choose Matějka, the principal reason for this appointment was number of years served by him. This paper attempts to explore the background of Dvořák’s rejection and to set the affair into a more plastic and broader context, based on so far neglected archival material. The goal is not only to complement Dvořák’s intellectual biography but also to learn more about the functioning of the institutions of learning in the Hapsburg monarchy, and about the role of history of art in Czech national society.
