Avinoam Shalem, Mitglied im Kuratorium unserer Gesellschaft und derzeit als Riggio Professor of Art History, Arts of Islam, an der Columbia University New York tätig, übermittelte uns den folgenden Nachruf.
Honoring Elizabeth Sgalitzer Ettinghausen
(Vienna, 1918 – Princeton, 2016)
The Princeton Research Forum, Princeton, New Jersey, sadly announces the passing on June 12, 2016, of one of its most distinguished members: Elizabeth Sgalitzer Ettinghausen, a respected specialist on Byzantine and Islamic art and culture. Dr Ettinghausen had been treated for cardiac problems over the last several months, and died peacefully at Merwick Care, suburban Princeton, NJ, surrounded by sons Tom and Stephen and other family members. Many of Elizabeth’s associates in Princeton, New York, and Washington, DC, visited her bedside. She was alert and genial to the last. Elizabeth Sgalitzer Ettinghausen was born in Vienna in 1918, and initially educated in Vienna. But with the rise of Naziism, she and her family fled Austria in 1938 to Prague, then on to Istanbul, where her studies led to a dissertation (1943) on Byzantine ceramics. Owing to the family’s relocations during the War, she was multi-lingual. In 1943, she relocated to the States, where she worked at the Department of Byzantine Art, Dumbarton Oaks Library, Washington, DC. In 1945, she married the German art historian, Richard Ettinghausen (New York University; Metropolitan Museum of Art). The Ettinghausens were one of the earliest celebrity couples on the conference scene. In 1967, they moved to Princeton, NJ, where her husband built a respected career in Islamic Art at Princeton University. Under the sponsorship of her principal affiliation, the Princeton Research Forum, Princeton, NJ, Elizabeth Ettinghausen made considerable contributions as an Independent Scholar, with a busy schedule of publications, lectures, and professional service (e.g., Visiting Committee member, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; Collections Committee member, Harvard University Art Museums; Honorary Trustee, Textile Museum, George Washington University Museum). A frequent guest speaker into her 80s and 90s, Elizabeth spoke in Austria in 2009, and more recently in Princeton and in New York, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Only last year, she contributed the Foreword to Louise W. Mackie’s Symbols of Power: Luxury Textiles from Islamic Lands, 7th – 21st Century (Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016). In her final weeks, she thought to write a piece on Persepolis. Elizabeth Sgalitzer Ettinghausen will be missed by a global network. Her deep historical knowledge, personal elegance, and ironic wit distinguished her in all settings. A legacy assured.
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Princeton Research Forum, Princeton, NJ.
Ashwini Mokashi, President.
Notice prepared by Maureen E. Mulvihill (PRF).
Wir konnten Frau Ettinghausen am 12. Juni 1997 zu einem Vortrag (Osmanische Architektur und Kunst und ihr dekoratives Programm) in der LMU begrüßen. Der damalige Erste Vorsitzende WJPich stellte sie u.a. als herausragende Kunsthistorikerin und in vielen Städten der westlichen und islamischen Welt bekannte Vortragende vor – die u.a. Präsidentin der Princeton Rug Society war (damals für viele unserer Mitglieder ein wichtiger Aspekt). Prof. Bürgel berichtet in seinem Aufsatz Auf Spuren östlicher Weisheit (EOTHEN VI, S. 53 f.) von der herzlichen Gastfreundschaft, die er in den Jahren 1998-2000 im Hause der Wissenschaftlerin in Princeton erlebte.
Wir werden Elizabeth Ettinghausen nicht vergessen.
