Betty Kurth (born 5 October 1878 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary – died 12 November 1948 in London) full name Bettina Dorothea Kurth, née Kris, was an Austrian art historian. Her research focused on medieval tapestries.
Life Her parents were the Viennese lawyer Samuel Kris and his wife Hermine, née Morawetz. Betty was a cousin of the art historian Ernst Kris. She graduated from the Lyceum of the Vienna Women's Working Association and subsequently worked as a teacher. In 1903, she married the lawyer Peter Paul Kurth (1879–1924). From 1904, she attended lectures in art history and classical archaeology at the University of Vienna. In 1907, she matriculated as a regular student. She was the first female art history student in Vienna and one of the first women ever to study at the University of Vienna. In 1911, she received her doctorate with a dissertation supervised by Max Dvořák entitled: Die Fresken im Adlerturm zu Trient. This work examined the monument in detail for the first time and placed it in the context of developments in Northern Italy and France since the beginning of the 15th century.
She conducted research as an independent scholar. After the Anschluss of Austria by Nazi Germany, she was forced to emigrate in 1939 as a Jew. The Society for the Protection of Science and Learning (SPSL) unsuccessfully sought a paid position for her. Among other things, she taught at the Warburg Institute in London and lived for a time in abject poverty. In 1941, the Austrian art historian Hans Tietze, who had emigrated to the USA, donated to the SPSL to support her. In 1944, she was commissioned by the Glasgow Art Gallery to catalog the Sir William Burrell Collection of Tapestries. She died in an accident in 1948.
In 1900, she published the fictional diary *One for Many* under the pseudonym Vera. The book "deals with the sexual anxieties and desires of a young girl and her struggle against bourgeois hypocrisy" and went through 23 editions.
Her major work on art history, published in 1926 as a single text volume and two illustrated volumes, is titled Die deutschen Bildteppiche des Mittelalters (The German Tapestries of the Middle Ages). She dedicated it to the memory of her husband and wrote in the preface:
Separately, another assessment of the work states: “Your three monumental volumes on medieval German tapestries are indispensable not only to all scholars in the field, but are also a model of responsible and successful research into technique, style, history, and above all iconography.” She was said to be the first to recognize the importance of the tapestry workshop at Tournai.
Publications
Die deutschen Bildteppiche des Mittelalters. Ein Textband, zwei Tafelbände. Schroll, Wien 1926.
References