Keith Andrews (art historian)


Keith Andrews FRSE was a German-born British art historian and museum curator.

Early life

Keith Andrews was born Kurt Hermann Aufrichtig in Hamburg on 11 October 1920, the son of Sabine Kalter and Max Aufrichtig. His mother, born to a German speaking Polish–Galician Jewish family in Jarosław, Galicia, Austria-Hungary, was a leading mezzo-soprano at the Hamburg State Opera. His father, born in Breslau, was a banker in Hamburg. Andrews had a younger sister Rene Andrews. The family fled Nazi Germany in January 1935 and settled in London with Andrews becoming a naturalised British citizen in 1947.

Education

Andrews was educated at a in Eerde, Netherlands. At the age of 17 he contracted Poliomyelitis, which caused permanent muscle weakness in both legs. Returning to London, Andrews attended night school at the Courtauld Institute twice a week, earning his diploma in the early 1950s. During this time he was well known at Warburg Institute, with Gertrud Bing referring to Andrews as "a child of the house".
Andrews was later awarded an Honorary MA from the University of Edinburgh and an Honorary D Litt from University of Glasgow in 1985.

Career

During his studies at the Courtauld, Andrews worked at Ernst Seligmann's antiquarian bookshop 'E Seligmann, Books & Prints' on Cecil Court. In 1955, Andrews was employed as an Art Librarian and Curator at the then Liverpool City Libraries, remaining there until 1958.
In 1958, Andrews joined the Department of Prints and Drawings at the National Gallery of Scotland as 'Keeper of Prints and Drawings'. Andrews' publications on Adam Elsheimer are of particular importance.
Andrews was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in March 1989. On 4 April 1989 Andrews died aged 68 in Edinburgh.

Selected publications