Institute of Art History
[Translate to English:] Paul Mellenthin

Dr. Paul Mellenthin

Academic Assistant

Room 09 (Entrance on the right side of the building)
+49 (0)7071 29-78783
paul.mellenthinspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de
office hours during the semester: 4pm to 6pm by arrangement via e-mail
office hours during the lecture-free period: 26th August 2026, 2-6pm Uhr; 30th September 2026, 2-6pm 

Vita

Paul Mellenthin has been an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Art History at the University of Tübingen since July 2023. His teaching and research focus on modern and contemporary art, the theory and history of photography, and the history of art history. In his current second book project, he inquires into artistic practices that critically engage with forms of pastness.

He studied art history in Leipzig, Berlin, Paris, Rome, and Basel. His dissertation, entitled Fotografie, Macht, Geschichte. Bilder vom Deutsch-Französischen Krieg und der Pariser Kommune (“Photography, Power, History: Images of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune”), received the Research Award of the Society for Interdisciplinary Image Studies (GiB). During his doctoral studies, he was a fellow at eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image in Basel, was awarded a grant from the Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft Basel, and was awarded a research fellowship by the German Center for Art History in Paris. His research stays took him, among other places, to the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, and the Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History in Rome.

In addition to his university work, he has many years of experience in museums and collections. From 2015 to 2017, he was guest curator of the photography collection at the Münchner Stadtmuseum. He subsequently worked as a curator at the Kunstmuseum Basel and as head of collection at the Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron Kabinett, Basel. Most recently, he was responsible for the exhibition París: Bajo una pequeña nube (2025) at the Centro Fotográfico Manuel Álvarez Bravo in Oaxaca. This close connection between academic research, curatorial practice, and institutional work also shapes his teaching. His seminars and excursions combine theoretical reflection with work on original objects, archives, and exhibitions.

He is the editor of several edited volumes and academic journals. His essays appear in international edited volumes, exhibition catalogues, and scholarly journals in art history and the history of photography. He is also active as a critic and reviewer, writing regularly on current exhibitions, books, and debates in image and photography theory. He regularly gives lectures at international conferences and is involved in academic networks and committees, including as spokesperson of the Postdoc Forum for French Studies and as an editor of ArtHist.net. As an organizer of workshops and lecture series, he promotes interdisciplinary exchange with literary studies, media studies, and history.

In his teaching, he covers a broad spectrum—from introductions and methods of art history to advanced seminars on photography theory and contemporary art, as well as research-oriented teaching formats focusing on individual artists. He supervises bachelor’s and master’s theses on topics in art history from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, as well as on questions of art theory and image theory. Students are encouraged to develop their own research questions at an early stage and to pursue them in close dialogue.

Research Interests

  • Art from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century
  • Theory and history of photography
  • Artistic engagements with archives
  • Curatorial practice and exhibition history
  • The history of art history and its media

Publications

Monographs/ Editorships

Monographs

  • Mellenthin, Paul: Fotografie und die Pariser Kommune. Wenn Gegenwart Geschichte wird (Photography and the Paris Commune: When the Present Becomes History), Berlin: De Gruyter, 2027 (forthcoming).

Edited Volumes

  • Mellenthin, Paul (ed.): Korrespondenzen. Fotografien in der Gegenwartsliteratur (Correspondences: Photographs in Contemporary Literature), Fotogeschichte 183 (2027) (forthcoming). With contributions from Sandie Attia, Kentaro Kawashima, Esther Kinsky, Martha Rosso, Michele Vangi, Karine Winkelvoss and Evi Zemanek.
  • Mellenthin, Paul (ed.): Kritik der Autorschaft. Fotografie als kollektives Unternehmen (Critique of Authorship: Photography as a Collective Enterprise), Fotogeschichte 43.168 (2023). With contributions from Svetlana Alpers, Nadya Bair, Megan Luke, Douglas R. Nickel and Steffen Siegel.
  • Mellenthin, Paul / Osadtschy, Olga (eds.): Exposure Time: Photographs from the Collection Ruth and Peter Herzog, Basel: Christoph Merian Verlag, 2020. With contributions from Katja Petrowskaja, Peter Geimer, Eva Ehninger, Steve Edwards, Kelley Wilder, Vanessa R. Schwartz, Jan von Brevern, Martina Baleva, Valentin Groebner, Katja Müller-Helle and Michael Hagner.
    • DE: Mellenthin, Paul / Osadtschy, Olga (eds.): Belichtungszeit. Fotografien der Sammlung Ruth und Peter Herzog, Basel: Christoph Merian Verlag, 2020.
    • Reviews: Nedo, Kito: “An die Stadt ranpirschen”, in: taz, 21 July 2020, p. 15 (PDF); Muscionico, Daniele: “Wir fotografieren uns die Welt schön”, in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 24 July 2020, p. 27 (PDF); Dutoit, Christophe: “Les anonymes au panthéon”, in: La Gruyère, 5 September 2020, p. 20 (PDF).
  • Mellenthin, Paul / Pohlmann, Ulrich (eds.): Adolphe Braun. Ein europäisches Photographieunternehmen und die Bildkünste im 19. Jahrhundert (Adolphe Braun: A European Photographic Enterprise and the Visual Arts in the Nineteenth Century), Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2017. With contributions from Bernd Stiegler, Christian Kempf, Jan von Brevern, Marie Robert, Aziza Gril-Mariotte and Dorothea Peters.
    • FR: Mellenthin, Paul / Pohlmann, Ulrich (eds.): Adolphe Braun. Une entreprise photographique européenne au 19e siècle, Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2018.
    • Reviews: Scheuer, Franziska: “Ein Fotografenunternehmen unter der Lupe”, in: Rundbrief Fotografie 25.2018, pp. 34–45 (PDF); Holzer, Anton: “Adolphe Braun et Cie: Fotografie als Geschäft”, in: Fotogeschichte 147, 2017 (Link); Sachs, Brita: “Kein Weg zu weit”, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 16 November 2017, p. 2; Moises, Jürgen: “Schätze aus dem Schloss”, in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 6 October 2017; Schade, Christoph: “Ad. Braun et Cie”, in: Photonews, 1 December 2017; “Der Bildermacher des 19. Jahrhunderts”, in: photo international, 1 November 2017, pp. 1–4; Chlumsky, Milan: “Im richtigen Licht”, in: Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 16 December 2017.

Articles

  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Bilder ohne Nachwelt. Über die Lesbarkeit alter Fotografien” (Images Without Posterity: On the Legibility of Old Photographs), in: Fotogeschichte 183 (2027), forthcoming.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “L’éclectisme comme méthode. Charles Winter et quelques emplois de la photographie naissante” (Eclecticism as Method: Charles Winter and Some Uses of Early Photography), in: Charles David Winter. Décors et décombres, Strasbourg, 2026, forthcoming.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Gefangen im Augenblick. Fotografie und historische Repräsentation” (Caught in the Moment: Photography and Historical Representation), in: Alma Hennig / Christian Meierhofer / Georg Möglich (eds.): 1870/71. Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg in transnationaler, regionaler und interdisziplinärer Perspektive, Bonn, 2024, pp. 243–271. DOI: 10.14220/9783737014953.243.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Paris in Ruinen” (Paris in Ruins), in: Martin Zimmermann (ed.): Lost Cities, Munich, 2023, pp. 199–216. DOI: 10.1515/9783111071848-012.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “The Dilemma of Photography. Photojournalism, History, and the Paris Commune”, in: Jorge Ribalta (ed.): Documentary Genealogies. Photography 1848–1917, Madrid, 2023, pp. 209–217.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Fotografie als kollektives Unternehmen” (Photography as a Collective Enterprise), in: Mellenthin, Paul (ed.): Kritik der Autorschaft, Fotogeschichte 43.168 (2023), pp. 3–5.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Besser als das Original: Die Revolution der photographie au charbon” (Better than the Original: The Revolution of the photographie au charbon), in: Tatjana Bartsch / Ralf Bockmann / Paul Pasieka / Johannes Röll (eds.): Faktizität und Gebrauch früher Fotografie, Wiesbaden, 2021, pp. 193–204.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: Minutoli’s Model Collection and its Purpose, in: Ulrich Pohlmann / Dietmar Schenk (eds.): Vorbilder Nachbilder. Die fotografische Lehrsammlung der Universität der Künste 1850–1930, Cologne, 2020, pp. 34–39.
  • Mellenthin, Paul / Osadtschy, Olga: Back to the Beginning, in: Mellenthin, Paul / Osadtschy, Olga (eds.): Exposure Time: Photographs from the Collection Ruth and Peter Herzog, Basel, 2020, pp. 224–235.
  • Mellenthin, Paul / Peters, Dorothea: “Das fotografische Museum” (“The Photographic Museum”), in: Mellenthin, Paul / Pohlmann, Ulrich (eds.): Adolphe Braun. Ein europäisches Photographieunternehmen und die Bildkünste im 19. Jahrhundert, Munich, 2017, pp. 296–332.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “‘C’est terrible, mais c’est beau!’ Photographien nach dem Deutsch-Französischen Krieg 1870/71” (‘C’est terrible, mais c’est beau!’ Photographs after the Franco-German War 1870/71), in: Paul Mellenthin / Ulrich Pohlmann (eds.): Adolphe Braun. Ein europäisches Photographieunternehmen und die Bildkünste im 19. Jahrhundert, Munich, 2017, pp. 254–281.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: Thinker, in: Astrid Honold (Hg.): Fendry Ekel. Entries, Amsterdam 2016, S.  110–119.

Interviews, Reviews, Miscellanea

  • “Es geht halt einfach nicht, AI nicht zu nutzen” (It Is Simply Not Possible Not to Use AI). Anika Meier in conversation with Sara Baumeister and Paul Mellenthin, in: Trajectoires 20 (2027), forthcoming.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: Armin Linke: The City as Archive. Florence, in: Camera Austria 173 (2026), S. 85–86.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Medardo Rosso. Die Erfindung der modernen Skulptur” (Medardo Rosso: The Invention of Modern Sculpture), in: Camera Austria 170 (2025), pp. 86–87.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Über die Emergenz künstlerischer Historiografie” (On the Emergence of Artistic Historiography), in: Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 87.2 (2024), pp. 290–296. DOI: 10.1515/zkg-2024-2009.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Was bleibt, wenn die Evidenz scheitert? Images of the Present. 30 Jahre Dokumentarfotografie Förderpreise der Wüstenrot Stiftung” (What Remains When Evidence Fails? Images of the Present. 30 Years of Documentary Photography Awards by the Wüstenrot Foundation), in: Camera Austria 165 (2024), pp. 84–86.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Productive Archiving: Artistic Strategies, Future Memories, and Fluid Identities”, in: Critique d’art 61 (2023), pp. 181–182.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Traces de guerre” (Traces of War), in: Critique d’art 61 (2023).
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “All New Photography Centre at the V&A”, in: Camera Austria 164 (2023), pp. 75–76.
  • “Unumkehrbar! Paul Mellenthin im Gespräch mit Michael Hollmann, dem Präsidenten des Deutschen Bundesarchivs, über Geschichte in Fahrtrichtung und die Zukunftsressource Archiv” (Irreversible! Paul Mellenthin in Conversation with Michael Hollmann, President of the Federal Archives, on History in the Direction of Travel and the Archive as a Resource for the Future), in: Arsprototo: Archive und Selbstzeugnisse 1.2023, pp. 13–21.
  • “Svetlana Alpers: Walker Evans: Starting from Scratch. Conversation with Paul Mellenthin”, in: Fotogeschichte 167 (2023), pp. 6–10.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Die Elsässerin” (“The Alsatian Woman”), in: Frauke von der Haar / Lothar Schirmer (eds.): Ulrich Pohlmann. Fotografie sammeln, Munich, 2023, pp. 128–129.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Über die Informationstechnologie Fotografie. Image Capital” (On Photography as Information Technology: Image Capital), in: Camera Austria 160 (2022), pp. 76–77.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Zur Gegenwart der Bilder. Katja Petrowskaja: Das Foto schaute mich an” (On the Presence of Images: Katja Petrowskaja’s Das Foto schaute mich an), in: Fotogeschichte 166 (2022), pp. 68–70.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Der Mensch bleibt verborgen. Irmel Kamp: Architekturbilder” (The Human Remains Hidden: Irmel Kamp’s Architekturbilder), in: Camera Austria 159 (2022), p. 82.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Moderne Zeiten: Industrie im Blick von Malerei und Fotografie” (Modern Times: Industry Seen through Painting and Photography), in: Camera Austria 156 (2021), pp. 85–87.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Ins Bewusstsein gepikst. RAY 2021 Ideologien” (Jolted into Awareness: RAY 2021 Ideologies), in: Camera Austria 155 (2021), pp. 67–69.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Die Sonne um Mitternacht schauen: Gegenwartskunst aus dem Lenbachhaus und der KiCo Stiftung” (Looking at the Sun at Midnight: Contemporary Art from the Lenbachhaus and the KiCo Foundation), in: Camera Austria 153 (2021), pp. 85–87.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Weltgeschichte als ein Fluss mit vielen Ufern. Aby Warburg: Bilderatlas Mnemosyne – Das Original” (World History as a River with Many Banks: Aby Warburg’s Bilderatlas Mnemosyne – Das Original), in: Camera Austria 152 (2020), pp. 82–83.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “What is Vernacular Photography? Imagining Everyday Life”, in: Camera Austria 150/151 (2020), pp. 144–145.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “New Photography Centre at the V&A. Collecting Photography: From Daguerreotype to Digital”, in: Camera Austria 142 (2019).
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Zeigen und/oder beweisen? Die Fotografie als Kulturtechnik und Medium des Wissens” (Showing and/or Proving? Photography as a Cultural Technique and Medium of Knowledge), in: Camera Austria 140 (2017), pp. 85–86.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Entries ‘Domenico Anderson’, ‘Adolphe Braun’”, in: Maria Francesca Bonetti / Luise De Marinis (eds.): Alfabeto fotografico romano, Rome, 2017, p. 351.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Harry Graf Kessler. Porträt eines europäischen Kulturvermittlers” (Harry Graf Kessler: Portrait of a European Cultural Mediator), in: Etudes Germaniques 4 (2016), p. 698.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Wissenschaftliche Bildproduktion als Gegenstand bildhistorischer Betrachtungen” (Scientific Image Production as an Object of Image-Historical Enquiry”), in: Rundbrief Fotografie 23 (2015), pp. 52–56.

Presentations

Public Lectures

  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Gedanken über die Nachwelt. Fotolektüren von Katja Petrowskaja, Harry Walter und Wilhelm Genazino” (Thoughts on Posterity: Photo-Readings of Katja Petrowskaja, Harry Walter and Wilhelm Genazino), lecture in the lecture series “Literatur und Fotografie”, University of Tübingen, 11 June 2026.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Für die Geschichte bereit? Die Ankunft der Kamera vor den Barrikaden” (Ready for History? The Arrival of the Camera before the Barricades), lecture in the lecture series “Liberté – Positionen kunsthistorischer Frankreichforschung”, University of Trier, 9 December 2025.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Image et texte dans la ‘caméra virtuelle’” (Image and Text in the ‘Virtual Camera’), paper presented at the conference “Repenser les traversées : l’intermédialité entre médias, arts et cultures”, Aix-Marseille Université, 4–6 December 2025.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Prêt pour l’Histoire ? Le sujet révolutionnaire et l’objet de l’appareil photographique” (Ready for History? The Revolutionary Subject and the Object of the Photographic Apparatus), paper presented at the conference “Photographie et mémoire : raconter des histoires, relire l’Histoire”, Université de La Réunion, 17–21 November 2025.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: Laudatory address for the exhibition “Phillip Toledano: Another America”, d.a.i. Tübingen, 6 May 2025.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Augen-Blicke” (Eye-Moments), lecture held in conjunction with the exhibition “Jeff Wall”, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 19 April 2024.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Nadars ‘Livre d’Or’. Kunsthistorische Perspektiven” (Nadar’s ‘Livre d’Or’: Art-Historical Perspectives), lecture at the University of Konstanz, 5 December 2023.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Die kleinen Leute” (The Little People), lecture held in conjunction with the exhibition “Nora Mertes. Greifen und Loslassen”, 23 November–19 December 2023, Saarländische Galerie, Berlin.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Monumental Shifts: Revisiting the Exhibition ‘Archive Fever’”, paper presented at the conference “After the Archive: Artwork and Document”, University of Barcelona, 23–25 October 2023.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Abbildungen für die Kunstgeschichte? Der Aufstieg des Kunstverlags »Braun & Cie«” (Illustrations for Art History? The Rise of the Art Publishing House ‘Braun & Cie’), as part of the conference “Bilderwirtschaft: Fotografie als Ware und Material der Kunstgeschichte um 1900”, Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte (ZI), 5 November 2022.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Picturing War 1870/71”, lecture event as part of the exhibition “Reichsgründung in Versailles. Ort – Ereignis – Gedächtnis”, Otto-von-Bismarck-Stiftung Friedrichsruh, 3 August 2021 (Video-Link: youtu.be/X-OglDD7DEM.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Gegenwartsformen der Vergangenheit. Zum Verhältnis von Fotografien und Ruinen” (Present Forms of the Past: On the Relationship between Photographs and Ruins), lecture in the lecture series “Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg 1870/71 – Interdisziplinäre Perspektiven”, University of Bonn, 13 July 2021.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Ruinen lesen. Paris vor und nach 1871” (Reading Ruins: Paris before and after 1871), paper presented at the conference “Lost Cities – Wahrnehmung von und Leben mit verlassenen Städten in den Kulturen der Welt” (“Lost Cities – Perceiving and Living with Abandoned Cities in the Cultures of the World”), Historisches Kolleg Munich, 19 March 2021.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Die Fotoalben der Pariser Kommune” (The Photo Albums of the Paris Commune), research colloquium, University of Lausanne, 2 March 2021.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “La photographie entre l’Allemagne et la France en 1870” (Photography between Germany and France in 1870), paper presented at the conference “Tableaux de siège (1870–1871), Université Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, 15 February 2021.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Censorship and Circulation: The Disappearance of the Paris Commune”, paper presented at the conference “States of Seeing”, University of Basel, 7 June 2019.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Minutoli’s Model Collection and its Purpose”, paper presented at the conference “Vorbilder Nachbilder”. Die fotografische Lehrsammlung der Universität der Künste 1850–1930”, Museum für Fotografie, Berlin, 16 May 2019.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Writing Art Histories with Photographs”, paper presented at the conference “Visuality, Materiality, and Knowledge Production since the 16th Century”, University of Bern, 20 April 2018.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “C’est terrible, mais c’est beau ! Photographien nach dem Deutsch-Französischen Krieg 1870/71” (C’est terrible, mais c’est beau! Photographs after the Franco-German War 1870/71), paper presented at the conference “Paris – urbaner, institutioneller und künstlerischer Ort der Fotografie”, German Center for Art History Paris, 6 July 2017.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Form, Colour, Materiality: Indexicality and Early Reproductions of Art”, paper presented at the conference “Phenomena of Indexicality beyond Universalist Paradigms”, University of Basel, 13 May 2017.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Besser als das Original: Die Revolution der photographie au charbon” (Better than the Original: The Revolution of the photographie au charbon), paper presented at the conference “Faktizität und Gebrauch früher Fotografie”, Bibliotheca Hertziana – Max Planck Institute for Art History, Rome, 23 March 2017.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Adolphe Braun, sa pratique de reproduction et l’intervention de l’histoire de l’art” (Adolphe Braun, his Reproductive Practice and the Intervention of Art History), paper presented at the conference “Plaques photographiques, fabrication et diffusion du Savoir”, University of Strasbourg, 17 March 2016 (Video link: https://www.canalc2.tv/video/13819).

Organisation of Academic Events

  • Janzen, Svea / Brahms, Iris / Mellenthin, Paul: “‘Frankreichforschung’ und aktuelle Perspektiven einer transkulturellen Kunstgeschichte” (‘Research on France’ and Current Perspectives in a Transcultural Art History), conference, University of Tübingen, 13–15 November 2025.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Correspondences. Photography in Contemporary Literature”, Summer School, University of Tübingen, 10–14 March 2025.
  • Mellenthin, Paul: “Archive, Non-Archive, Counter-Archive”, workshop, Brandenburg Center for Media Studies (ZeM), Potsdam, 6–7 October 2022.
  • Osadtschy, Olga / Mellenthin, Paul: “Fotografie – Theorie, Geschichte, Ästhetik” (Photography – Theory, History, Aesthetics), lecture series, Seminar for Media Studies, University of Basel, autumn semester 2019.
  • Osadtschy, Olga / Mellenthin, Paul / Kurjakovic, Daniel: “Im Schatten der Bilder” (In the Shadow of Images), lecture series, eikones – Center for the Theory and History of the Image, University of Basel, autumn semester 2018.