Fonds 1061 - Peter H. Brieger fonds

Identity area

Reference code

UTA 1061

Title

Peter H. Brieger fonds

Date(s)

  • 1918-1987 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

2.08 m of textual and graphic records (16 boxes + 1 oversized folder)

Context area

Name of creator

(1898-1983)

Biographical history

Prof. Peter H. Brieger (1898-1983) was an art historian and expert in medieval manuscripts and art. A professor at the University of Toronto, Dr. Brieger is considered “a pioneer in Art History as an academic discipline in Canada” (Eleen).

Dr. Brieger was born in 1898 in Breslau, to his father Oskar Brieger, an otolaryngologist, and his mother, Hedwig Lion. He was raised by a governess in an intellectual and cultured home. Brieger fought for Germany in World War I and was wounded in Flanders. Brieger then studied at Breslau and Munich and settled on art history as a discipline, studying under Wilhelm Pinder, Paul Frankl, and Heinrich Wölfflin. He worked as an assistant under August Grisebach at Breslau from 1922-1927 and received his Ph.D. in 1924. After spending 1927-1928 researching in Rome, he returned to Breslau, where he worked as a professor and married historian Barbara Ritter in 1931. In 1933, fearing Nazi persecution, he left for Paris. When he was officially classified a “non Aryan” in 1934, he moved to London, where he worked on the Atlas of Medieval Art and Architecture in England at the Courtauld Institute. It was here that his focus shifted from Baroque to medieval art.

In 1936, Dr. Brieger moved to Canada, where he taught at U of T and became a professor in 1947. He chaired the art history department from 1965 until his retirement in 1969. He also served as a part-time professor at the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies in Toronto until 1973 and contributed to “Art and the Courts: France and England from 1259 to 1328,” an exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada in 1972.

Dr. Brieger is the author of many influential articles and books, including "English Art, 1216-1307" (1957) and "Illuminated manuscripts of the Divine Comedy" (with Millard Meiss and Charles S. Singleton, 1969).

Dr. Brieger died in Toronto in 1983.

Archival history

With the exception of records in series 8, all other records were transferred to the Archives from Dr. Evonne Levy, Professor of Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture, who used the records as research material, in coordination with the Brieger family. As Dr. Brieger died more than 30 years before the records were donated, no original order was discernable.

Records in Series 8 were kept by Jürgen Paul, a professor in Dresden, Germany who worked on the Bible project with Dr. Brieger. The materials were shipped to the U of T Archives in order to become part of this fonds. These records arrived well-organized in what seems to be original order.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Fonds consists of records documenting the life and work of Dr. Peter H. Brieger, including his early career in Germany and his later research on medieval manuscripts and the Bible. Records include correspondence, notebooks, lectures, articles, research notes and manuscripts. One series also documents the activities of the Fine Art Club at the University of Toronto. Photographs consists of those taken of illuminated manuscripts, for research purposes.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

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Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English
  • German

Script of material

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Finding aids

Uploaded finding aid

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Alternative identifier(s)

Accession

B2016-0007

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Dates of creation revision deletion

Finding aid created by Karen Suurtamm, 2016
Added to AtoM by E. Sommers, Feb. 2018

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