Janson, H. W.

Janson, H. W. (Horst Woldemar) (“Peter”) (1913–82) art historian; born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He studied at the Universities of Hamburg and Munich before he emigrated to the U.S.A. He earned his Ph.D. at Harvard (1942) and taught at numerous institutions, notably New York University (1949–74), where he chaired the Department of Fine Arts and made it one of the finest in the century. He published many books on art history, ranging from cave paintings to 19th-century art. His History of Art (1969, several revisions) was for many years the standard text for college art history courses.