Jurgis Baltrušaitis (art historian)

Jurgis Baltrušaitis (May 7, 1903 – January 25, 1988) was a Lithuanian art historian, art critic and a founder of comparative art research. He was the son of the poet and diplomat Jurgis Baltrušaitis. Most of his works were written in French, although he always stressed his Lithuanian origin. After Lithuania was occupied by the USSR in 1945, he served as a diplomat in exile. Baltrušaitis was born in Moscow. During his childhood he was immersed in the intense cultural life of his parents. One of his first teachers was the Russian poet and writer Boris Pasternak. In 1924 he moved to Paris and began theater studies at the Sorbonne under the guidance of Professor Henri Focillon. Under his influence Baltrušaitis chose to study the history of art. He went on to do research in Armenia, Georgia, Spain, Italy, and Germany, receiving a doctorate from the Sorbonne in 1931. Later that year he became the cultural attache at the Lithuanian Legation in Paris. Between 1933 and 1939 Baltrušaitis taught art history at the Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, as well as lecturing at the Sorbonne and at the Warburg Institute in London. After World War II he delivered lectures at New York University, Yale University, Harvard University, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His diplomatic efforts included writing for the French press on Lithuanian issues, and representing Lithuania in international organizations such as the Académie Internationale des Sciences et des Lettres and the Lithuanian Legation in Paris. Baltrušaitis died in Paris. Études sur l'art médiéval en Géorgie et en Arménie, Paris: E. Leroux, 1929. La Stylistique ornementale dans la sculpture romane, Paris: E. Leroux-Collège de France, 1931. Excerpt in English translation in Wylie Sypher (ed.), Art History: an Anthology of Modern Criticism, Gloucester, MA: P. Smith, 1975, p. 116-131; Second edition: Formations, déformations: La stylistique ornementale dans la sculpture romane (Idées et recherches), Paris: Flammarion, 1986. Art sumérien, art roman, Paris: E. Leroux, 1934.