1895 – 1985

With the 1942 publication of “Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite, and Art,” 1946’s “Language and Myth,” and her translations of the work of the German philosopher Ernst Cassirer, Langer became known as a leading figure in the philosophy of art. “Feeling and Form,” published in 1953 put forth a theory of the arts that brought her recognition in the field of aesthetics.

Biography/Description of Work

Born Susanne Katherina Knauth on the Upper West Side of Manhattan to prosperous German immigrant parents, he grew up multilingual, speaking German and French. She enrolled at Radcliffe College at the age of 20, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1920; she studied music as well as philosophy. She earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Radcliffe in 1924 and a doctorate in 1926. At Radcliffe she studied with philosopher Alfred North Whitehead, who wrote the prefatory note to her first book on philosophy, ‘The Practice of Philosophy,’ published in 1930. She was influenced by him and by Ernst Cassirer, a German philosopher who had been forced into exile by the Nazis. In Cambridge Susanne met William L. Langer, a historian and professor at Harvard University and also from a German immigrant family. They married in 1921 and had two sons, though divorced in 1942. Langer taught at several universities and received a research grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, which supported her writing. In 1954 Langer was appointed as Chair of the Philosophy Department at Connecticut College in New London. She received a research grant in 1956 from the Edgar Kaufmann Charitable Trust of Pittsburgh, and for the remainder of her life, she was able to devote herself to writing. Her papers are housed at the Connecticut College Library, where a bronze bust of her was dedicated in 1988.

Sources view

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame: http://www.cwhf.org/inductees/arts-humanities/susanne-langer/ ×

Associated Resource(s)

• 81 Neck Road, Old Lyme