Talk:Anton Ehrenzweig

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My father Anton Ehrenzweig was not a psychoanalyst although he underwent psychoanalysis himself in Vienna before the second world war. He was actually a trained lawyer who was very interested in modern art & modern music & who abandoned his formal career after fleeing Austria after the "Anschluss" with Germany in 1938. He had no formal training in his chosen subject & he told me that his own creative period came to him in a 3 month period in 1948 in London when his homeless parents in law were being put up in in my parents home & he was unemployed. He often told me that what had saved him from drowning in a legal backwater was his period in analysis, Hitler (in that he was forced to flee Austria) & meeting my mother who gave him the stability & home life he craved. His ideas can be summarized as the discovery of the organizing role of the unconscious mind in any act of creativity & an analysis of the layered structure of the unconscious mind & of the dynamic mental processes which an artist undergoes in the creative act.

Would you happen to have any details of Anton Ehrenzweig's familial milieu in Leon Guanajuato, Mexico? His grandson Antonio is a Mexican artist working in cast and stained concrete. -- Phil Ehrens

How important is this entry? There are three other Ehrenzweigs, Albert A., Armin E. and Anton who were more famous lawyers. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 130.82.221.44 (talk) 16:58, 14 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Anton Ehrenzweig's books on art theory and psychology have been in continuous publication, and have been required reading for university students majoring in art for more than 40 years. This entry is vitally important. It requires expansion and elucidation by an art historian.

This page is not about his work as a lawyer but his work on the psychology of the creative mind. Kirkdale (talk) 20:05, 16 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]


I would like to submit a response to the person who questioned the 'importance' of this entry, given that there are 'more famous lawyers'. ! Anton Ehrenzweig's contribution to Man was not his day-job, though no doubt he executed it most honourably and meticulously. It is his research and insights into the psychology and philosophy of artistic vision that is invaluable - practically unsurpassed. I am certain it is nearing that his work will be revisited, just as soon as science's neurological 'validation' catches up with his visionary work, which marries the mind to its nature and to Man's extraordinary impulse toward Beauty. Perhaps we should be enjoying the quiet peace and solitude of this gem-filled vault before the storm and spotlight, which will be his 'fame'. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.217.228.153 (talk) 08:05, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]