Hans Vollmer

Hans Vollmer (16 November 1878 – 15 February 1969) was a German art historian and encyclopedist.

In 1906 he was awarded a doctorate under Heinrich Wölfflin in Berlin with a thesis on Schwäbische Monumentalbrunnen von der Gotik bis zum Klassizismus (Swabian monumental fountains from the Gothic to Classicism).

The General Encyclopedia of Visual Artists of the XXth Century appeared in six volumes from 1953 to 1962.

He dictated a total of 47,229 artist biographies to his secretary Claire Möbius, who also worked as a research assistant, on the basis of notes which he excerpted predominately in the Deutsche Bücherei [de] in Leipzig; 15 to 20 typewritten pages were produced daily.

In recognition of his work Vollmer received the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver of the German Democratic Republic in 1957.