Antje von Graevenitz

Antje (-Maria) von Graevenitz, born Ludwig (26 August 1940, Hamburg) is a German art historian, art critic, educator and author.

Parallel to studying librarianship (diploma in 1964), she read art history, archeology and ethnology at Hamburg and Munich, where in 1973 she obtained her PhD with a dissertation about the Dutch ornament in the lobate-style (‚kwab’) of the baroque period, investigated with reference to the works of the family of silversmiths van Vianen and Lutma.

Antje von Graevenitz was married (1967–1983) to the late Gerhard von Graevenitz (with two children), who was an artist of kinetic objects.

Since 1970, Antje von Graevenitz has lived in Amsterdam.

From 1971 onwards, she began writing art reviews and essays for the Süddeutsche Zeitung as well as for international journals.

She has worked as part of the editorial teams of Museumjournaal, Vrij Nederland, Kunstschrift OKB, Wonen TABK, Archis and the Wallraf-Richartz Jahrbuch.

As a professor of general art history, specialized in the history of 20th- and 21st-century art, she taught at the University of Amsterdam (as a lecturer 1977–1989) and Cologne (as a professor 1989-2005).

In her research she is mainly focused on ephemeral art (performances and Fluxus) and interdisciplinary and anthropological topics (art in relation to rites of passage, philosophy, music, theatre or dance).

Some of her publications are dedicated to Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys and Nam June Paik.

She went on to lecture in modern art history at the University of Amsterdam (1977–1989), and was visiting professor at the Rijksuniversity Groningen and the Academy in Hamburg.

Subsequently she occupied the chair of general art history and 20th- and 21st-century art history at the University of Cologne from 1989 to 2005). As cultural advisor she worked for both the Dutch government and for the municipality of Amsterdam. Furthermore, she functioned as a member of the board for Stichting de Appel in Amsterdam, for the Academy of Art in Arnhem, for Stichting Stamina in Amsterdam, as chairwoman of the board of the Art Collection of Groningen and as the president of the Dutch section of the AICA. She also was engaged as scientific advisor of the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, the Institute of Modern Art in Nürnberg, the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in Vaduz and in the Central Archive of the International Art Market (ZADIK) in Cologne.

In 1993, she was a member of the selection-committee for the chief-curator of documenta X in Kassel.

Since 2001 she is married to Martin Adrichem.