WEBER, MAX

born April 18, 1881, Bialystok, Russia died Oct. 4, 1961, Great Neck, N.Y., U.S. Russian-born U.S. painter, printmaker, and sculptor who, through his early abstract works, helped to introduce in the U.S. such avant-garde movements of European art as Fauvism and Cubism. He moved to New York City in 1891 from Bialystok, Russia, and studied from 1898 to 1900 at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. From 1905 to 1908 he was in Paris where he studied at the Acadmie Julian and with Henri Matisse. He was one of the exhibitors at Alfred Stieglitz' "291" gallery. Between 1909 and 1917 he painted many of his best known pictures including the Fauvist-inspired "The Geranium" (1911; Museum of Modern Art, New York City) and "Chinese Restaurant" (1915; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City), a work in the synthetic Cubist manner. After 1917 his work became more representational and Weber became concerned with the poetry of colour and form. During the last 20 years of his career many of his paintings were based on Jewish subject matter, especially on Hasidic themes. Weber taught at the Art Students League, New York City, where he had Mark Rothko among his pupils. His publications include Essays on Art (1916) and Primitives (1926). born April 21, 1864, Erfurt, Prussia died June 14, 1920, Munich, Ger. German sociologist and political economist best known for his thesis of the "Protestant Ethic," relating Protestantism to capitalism, and for his ideas on bureaucracy. Through his insistence on the need for objectivity in scholarship and his analysis of human action in terms of motivation, Weber profoundly influenced sociological theory. Additional reading Biographical sources on Weber include: Marianne Weber, Max Weber: Ein Lebensbild (1926, 1950; Max Weber: A Biography, 1975); and Eduard Baumgarten, Max Weber: Werk und Person (1964). An attempt to correlate Weber's personal and historical situation with his work is Arthur Mitzman, The Iron Cage (1970). Good presentations of Weber's ideas may be found in Reinhard Bendix, Max Weber: An Intellectual Portrait (1962; new ed. 1977, with introduction by Guenther Roth); Julien Freund, Sociologie de Max Weber (1966; Eng. trans. 1968); and Ilse Dronberger, The Political Thought of Max Weber; In Quest of Statesmanship (1971). Major Works: Die rmische Agrargeschichte in ihrer Bedeutung fr das Staats- und Privatrecht (1891); Wirtschaftsgeschichte (1923; General Economic History, trans. by Frank H. Knight, 1927; paperback 1961). After the death of Max Weber, his widow, Marianne Weber, collected and edited his other writings as follows: Gesammelte Aufstze zur Religionssociologie, 3 vol. (1920), containing vol. 1, Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus. Die protestantischen Sekten und der Geist des Kapitalismus. Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen; vol. 2, Hinduismus and Buddhismus; and vol. 3, Das antike Judentum; trans. (from vol. 1) The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, by Talcott Parsons (1930, paperback 1958), and The Religion of China, Confucianism and Taoism (1951); (from vol. 2) The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism, trans. and ed. by Hans H. Gerth and Don Martindale (1958); (from vol. 3) Ancient Judaism (1952); Gesammelte politische Schriften (1921); Die rationalen und soziologischen Grundlagen der Musik (1921; The Rational and Social Foundations of Music, 1958); Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft (1922, 2 vol. 1925), part one The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, trans. by A.R. Henderson and Talcott Parsons (1947, paperback 1964); Max Weber on Law in Economy and Society, trans. of selected passages ed. by Max Rheinstein; The Sociology of Religion, trans. of vol. 2, ch. 4 (1963, paperback 1964); from W. und G., Basic Concepts in Sociology, trans. by H.P. Secher (1962); Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretative Sociology, a new and complete translation of W. und G., ed. by Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich (1968); Gesammelte Aufstzw zur Wissenschaftslehre (1922); Gesammelte Aufstze zur Soziologie und Sozialpolitik (1924); Gesammelte Aufstze zur Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte (1924); Schriften zur theoretischen Soziologie, zur Soziologie der Politik und Verfassung (1947); Aus den Schriften zur Religionssoziologie (1948). Other translations: From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, trans. and ed. by H.H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills (1947, paperback 1958), containing essays first written or published between 1906 and 1924; Max Weber on the Methodology of the Social Sciences, trans. and ed. by Edward A. Shils and Henry A. Finch (1949), containing three essays, two of which were published in the Archiv fr Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik (1904 and 1905), and a third essay first published in Logos (1917); The City, trans. of Die Stadt, ed. by Don Martindale and Getrud Neuwirth (1958); On Charisma and Institution Building, selected papers, ed. by S.N. Eisenstadt (1968).