Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus

Pevsner, Sir Nikolaus pĕvz´nər [key], 1902–83, English architectural historian, b. Germany. Influenced by Heinrich Wölfflin , Pevsner contended in his many works that art must be considered within its historical and social context. For many years Pevsner was art editor of Penguin Books. He was knighted in 1969. His major works include An Outline of European Architecture (1942), Pioneers of Modern Design (2d ed. 1949), Mannerism to Romanticism (2 vol., 1968), A History of Building Types (1976), and The Buildings of England, a massive 46-volume series of studies of regional English architecture (1951–74).

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