10 Facts About Anne Hollander

Anne Helen Loesser Hollander was an American historian whose original work provided new insights into the history of fashion and costume and their relation to the history of art.

Anne Hollander was the only child of pianist and music historian Arthur Loesser and his wife Jean Bassett, a sculptor.

Anne Hollander received a degree in art history from Barnard College, New York, graduating in 1952.

Anne Hollander moved in academic circles but never joined a college or university faculty.

Anne Hollander became an independent scholar, researching and writing on the history of fashion and costume.

Anne Hollander's work was both erudite and original, providing new perspectives on areas that previously had not been considered or had been regarded as unimportant.

Anne Hollander describes the relationship between dress and art as follows: "In a picture-making civilization, the ongoing pictorial conventions demonstrate what is natural in human looks; and it is only in measuring up to them that the inner eye feels satisfaction and the clothed self achieves comfort and beauty".

Anne Hollander's thesis was always that clothes reveal more than they conceal.

Anne Hollander held to this view even when considering the burqa worn by Muslim women, which she saw as revealing many details if one looked closely.

Anne Hollander was a fellow of the NYU New York Institute for the Humanities and was president of the PEN American Center in the 1990s.