Arnheim, Rudolf 1904-2007 (Rudolf Julius Arnheim)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born July 15, 1904, in Berlin, Germany; died of pneumonia, June 9, 2007, in Ann Arbor, MI. Psychologist, philosopher, educator, and writer. After university training in Berlin under the tutelage of such giants of gestalt theory as Max Wertheimer, Arnheim fled Nazi Germany in the early 1930s. He made his way via Italy and England to the United States, where he became a giant of similar theories in his own right. Arnheim's first major book was Art and Visual Perception (1954), in which he explored gestalt concepts related to visual perception and visual form. In subsequent writing, Arnheim extended his studies to all the senses and all creative media, from painting to film and even radio. One of the more original theories that emerged in works like Visual Thinking (1969) was an argument that elevated the act of sensory perception to the level of a bona fide thought process, an act of the intellect. His hypothesis was based on the rationale that perception inevitably filters sensory images through a knowledge base of prior experiences. In later writings, like To the Rescue of Art (1992), the author lamented a decline in artistic standards that he attributed to lapses of artistic discipline and ethical responsibility in the pursuit of commercial success. Arnheim had begun his immersion in the arts as a critic of architecture, art, and film, first for German periodicals, then later in Rome. His career as an academic was spent as a professor of psychology at the New School for Social Research and Sarah Lawrence College between 1943 and 1968, then at Harvard University until his initial retirement in 1974 as a professor emeritus. He then served as a visiting professor at the University of Michigan until 1984. Arnheim's other writings in English include The Power of the Center: A Study of Composition in the Visual Arts (1982), New Essays on the Psychology of Art (1886), and Film Essays and Criticism (1997).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2007, Adam Bernstein, p. B11.

New York Times, June 14, 2007, Margalit Fox, p. A25.

Washington Post, June 13, 2007, Adam Bernstein, p. B6.