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Richard Wollheim

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Richard Arthur Wollheim FBA (5 May 1923 − 4 November 2003) was a British philosopher noted for original work on mind and emotions, especially as related to the visual arts, specifically, painting. Wollheim served as the president of the British Society of Aesthetics from 1992 onwards until his death in 2003.

He was born and died in London.

Biography

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Richard Wollheim was the son of Eric Wollheim, a theatre impresario, and Constance (Connie) Mary Baker, an actress who used the stage name Constance Luttrell.[1] He attended Westminster School, London, and Balliol College, Oxford (1941–2, 1945–8), interrupted by active military service in World War II.[a] He obtained two first class BA degrees, one in History in 1946, the other in Philosophy, Politics and Economics in 1949.[2] The same year, he began teaching at University College London, where he became Grote Professor of Mind and Logic and Department Head from 1963 to 1982.[3]

He retired from that position to take up a professorship at Columbia University (1982–85).[4] He then taught at the University of California at Berkeley (1985–2002).[5] He chaired the Department at UC Berkeley, 1998–2002.[3] On retirement from Berkeley, he served briefly as a guest lecturer at Balliol College. Additionally, he held visiting positions at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, Graduate Center, CUNY, the University of California at Davis, and elsewhere.[6]

Wollheim gave several distinguished lecture series. He delivered the William James Lectures at Harvard in 1982, published as The Thread of Life (1984) and the Ernst Cassirer Lectures at Yale in 1991, upon which were based his On the Emotions (1999).[2] He also gave the Andrew W. Mellon lectures in Fine Arts at the National Gallery of Art in 1984 which, with much elaboration, became his Painting as an Art (1987).[7][8]

In 1962, Wollheim published an article "A paradox in the theory of democracy",[9] in which he argued that a supporter of democracy faces a contradiction when he votes. On the one hand he wants a particular party or candidate to win, but on the other hand he wants whoever wins the most votes to win. This has become known as Wollheim's paradox.

His Art and its Objects (1968) was one of the twentieth century's most influential texts on philosophical aesthetics in English.

In a 1965 essay, 'Minimal Art', he coined the term Minimalism.[5]

As well as for his work on the philosophy of art, Wollheim was known for his philosophical treatments of depth psychology, especially that of Sigmund Freud, to whose work he had been introduced by his father.[10]

Wollheim was an honorary affiliate of the British Psychoanalytical Society, to whom he gave an Ernest Jones lecture in 1968[b] and in 1991 he was given an award for his services to psychoanalysis by the International Psychoanalytical Association.[11]

His posthumously-published autobiography of youth, Germs: A Memoir of Childhood, with complementary essays, discloses a good deal about his family background and his life up to early manhood, providing valuable material for understanding his interests and sensibility.

Personal life

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Wollheim married Anne Barbara Denise (1920–2004), daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel George Powell, of the Grenadier Guards, after her divorce from her first husband, the literary critic Philip Toynbee.[12][13] They had twin sons, Bruno and Rupert. Their marriage was dissolved in 1967. Wollheim married Mary Day Lanier, stepdaughter of Dwight Macdonald, in 1969; their daughter is Emilia.[14][15]

Publications

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For an extensive bibliography of Richard Wollheim's publications by a professional bibliographer, see Eddie Yeghiayan's UC-Irvine site.[16] See also the 'Philweb' listing.[17]

Many of Richard Wollheim's publications are outside academic categories. Besides books, he published many articles, in journals and edited collections, book reviews, and gallery catalogues for shows. He also left writings in manuscript, letters and recordings of his talks.

Books and separately published works (selected)

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Edited books

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Selected articles

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  • "Minimal Art", Arts Magazine (January 1965): 26–32. Repr. in On Art and the Mind.
  • "Nelson Goodman's Languages of Art", The Journal of Philosophy: 62, no. 16 (Ag. 1970): 531. JSTOR 2024577
  • "Adrian Stokes, critic, painter, poet", Times Literary Supplement (17 February 1978): 207–209.
  • "The Cabinet of Dr Lacan", Topoi: 10 no. 2 (1991): 163–174. doi:10.1007/BF00141337
  • "A Bed out of Leaves", London Review of Books 25, no. 23 (4 December 2003).

Notes

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  1. ^ For his own account of his service in Europe during the war, see Wollheim, "Fifty Years On", London Review of Books (23 June 1994)
  2. ^ published as "The mind and the mind's image of itself" in The International Journal of Psychoanalysis Vol. 50, (Jan 1, 1969) and reprinted in On Art and the Mind (1972).

References

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  1. ^ Hollinghurst, Alan (18 December 2004). "Review: Germs by Richard Wollheim". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b Phillips, Antonia (4 January 2007). "Wollheim, Richard Arthur (1923–2003), philosopher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-92959. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  3. ^ a b Yollin, Patricia (8 November 2003). "Richard Wollheim -- UC professor". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  4. ^ Danto, Arthur (5 November 2003). "Richard Wollheim". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
  5. ^ a b Martin, Douglas (8 November 2003). "Richard Wollheim, Philosopher, Dies at 80". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
  6. ^ Vermazen, Bruce. "Richard Wollheim Remembered - American Society For Aesthetics". aesthetics-online.org. Archived from the original on 1 October 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2025.
  7. ^ "Professor Richard Wollheim". The Telegraph. 11 November 2003. Archived from the original on 24 March 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
  8. ^ Margolis, Joseph (1989). "Review of Painting as an Art". The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 47 (3): 281–284. doi:10.2307/431008. ISSN 0021-8529.
  9. ^ In Philosophy, Politics and Society, edited by Peter Laslett and W.G. Runciman, published by Basil Blackwell, 1962. pp. 71-87.
  10. ^ Anon. (8 November 2003). "Richard Wollheim". The Times. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  11. ^ Anon. (2004). "Obituary". The International Journal of Psychoanalysis. 85 (2): 533–534. doi:10.1516/0A18-U1KT-6TNL-VRQC. ISSN 0020-7578.
  12. ^ Tennant, Emma (27 November 2004). "Obituary: Anne Wollheim". The Guardian.
  13. ^ Enlightening: Letters 1946-1960, Isaiah Berlin, ed. Henry Hardy, Random House, 2012, end note no. 361
  14. ^ Richardson, John (17 November 2003). "Professor Richard Wollheim". The Independent. Retrieved 21 February 2025.
  15. ^ "Wollheim Papers - Archives Hub".
  16. ^ "Richard Wollheim". 26 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  17. ^ "RICHARD WOLLHEIM". 2 May 2008. Archived from the original on 2 May 2008. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
  18. ^ Bell, David (1995). "Richard Wollheim's 'The Mind and its depths'". Institute of Psychoanalysis. Retrieved 20 February 2025.

Sources

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