Abstract
Julian Pagaczewski (1874–1940) was a pupil of Marian Sokolowski at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow; after graduating
in History of Art in 1900, he worked at the National Museum from 1901–1911, and then took a post at the Jagiellonian University. He obtained his doctorate in 1908, his postdoctoral habilitation in 1909, became associate professor in 1917, and in 1921 – a full
professor; his chair was liquidated in 1933. During the interwar period, he was the major figure in art history in Krakow. His research interests included Polish art of all periods (apart from contemporary), seen in the vast context of European art, particularly the handic
rafts (gold-smithery, tapestry, embroidery) and sculpture. Following in his master’s footsteps, he adopted a philological and historical method of research, and soon enriched it with an in–depth comparative and stylistic analysis; he was strongly influenced by the Viennese scholars
(Franz Wickhoff, Alois Riegl), and above all Heinrich Wölfflin. His studies show a great mastery of the methodology of research, and
the later ones are exemplary of an art history focused on issues of style. He also had a reputation as an outstanding teacher a
nd educator; despite his relatively short period of professorship, he helped form almost all the eminent art historians of the next gen
eration, who, after World War II, determined the nature of the discipline in Krakow, largely continuing with his methodological approach
and passing it on to the next generation of scholars.
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