Hubert Damisch (28 April 1928 – 14 December 2017), was a French philosopher specialised in

aesthetics Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed t ...

and

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

, and professor at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (

EHESS The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

) in Paris from 1975 until 1996. Damisch studied at the Sorbonne with

Maurice Merleau-Ponty Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. (; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest an ...

and, later, with

Pierre Francastel Pierre Francastel (8 June 1900 – 2 January 1970) was a French art historian, best known for his use of sociological method. Francastel's initial period of study was in literature, at the Sorbonne. He worked in building conservation at Versaill ...

. In 1967 he founded the Cercle d’histoire/théorie de l’art that would later become the CEHTA (Centre d'histoire et théorie des arts) at the EHESS. Damisch has written extensively on the history and theory of

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, and the

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

. His works are landmark references for a theory of visual representations. He died on 14 December 2017, aged 89.

Selected books in French

* 1966: Alexandres Iolas (éd.), ''Hubert Damisch, lettre à Matta. Matta, lettre à Hubert Damisch'', New York, Genève, Milan, Paris. * 1972: ''Théorie de la peinture. Pour une histoire de la peinture'', Paris, Seuil. * 1972: ''Théorie du nuage: pour une histoire de la peinture'', Paris, Seuil, 1972. * 1974
''Huit thèses pour (ou contre ?) une semiologie de la peinture''
* 1976: ''Ruptures/Cultures''. Paris, Éditions du Minuit, 1976. * 1984: ''Fenêtre jaune cadmium ou les Dessous de la peinture''. Paris, Seuil, 1984. * 1987: ''L’origine de la perspective''. Paris, Flammarion, 1987. * 1992: ''Le jugement de Pâris. Iconologie analytique, I'', Paris, Flammarion, 1992. * 1993: ''L’Art est-il nécessaire ?''. * 1993: ''Américanisme et modernité. L'idéal américain dans l'architecture'' (co-directeur avec Jean-Louis Cohen), Paris, EHESS-Flammarion, 448 p
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* 1995: ''Traité du trait: tractatus tractus'', Paris, Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1995. * 1997: ''Skyline. La ville narcisse'', Paris, Seuil, 1996. * 1997: ''Un "souvenir d'enfance" par Piero della Francesca''. Paris, Seuil, 1997. * 1999: Hubert Damisch et Jacqueline Salmon, ''Villa Noailles'', Marval. * 2000: ''L’amour m'expose. Le projet Moves'', Bruxelles, Y. Gevaert, 2000 ééd., Paris, Klincksieck, 2007 * 2001: ''La Dénivelée. À l'épreuve de la photographie'', Paris, Seuil, 2001. * 2001: ''La peinture en écharpe: Delacroix, la photographie'', Paris, Klincksieck, 2001. * 2004: ''Voyage à Laversine'', Paris, Seuil, 2004. * 2008: ''Ciné fil'', Paris, Seuil, 2008.

Books in English

* 1994: ''The origin of perspective''; translated by John Goodman. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. * 1996: ''The judgment of Paris''; translated by John Goodman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996. , . * 1997: ''Moves: playing chess and cards with the museum/Moves: schaken en kaarten met het museum''; with an essay by Ernst van Alphen. Rotterdam: Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 1997. . * 2001: ''Skyline: the narcissistic city''; translated by John Goodman. Stanford University Press, 2001. , . * 2002: ''A theory of /cloud/: toward a history of painting''; translated by Janet Lloyd. Stanford University Press, 2002. , . * 2007: ''A childhood memory by Piero della Francesca''; translated by John Goodman. Stanford University Press, 2007. , . * 2016: ''Noah's Ark: Essays on Architecture''; introduction by Anthony Vidler, translated by Julie Rose. MIT Press, 2016. , .

Critical influence

* Baetens J. ''Exposer dans un musée. Une lecture sémiotique à partir du travail d’Hubert Damisch'' * Bird J. ''Hubert Damisch''. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. * Bowman, M, “The Intertwining—Damisch, Bois, and ''October''’s Rethinking of Painting” in ''Journal of Contemporary Painting'', volume 5, issue 1, April 2019, pp. 99–116. doi: 10.1386/jcp.5.1.99_1 * Cohn, D. (ed.). ''Y voir mieux, y regarder de plus près: autour d’Hubert Damisch''. Paris: Rue d’Ulm, 2003

References

External links

An homage to Hubert Damisch - short biography, quotes and propositions from his books - in FrenchThe CEHTA official homepageOfficial website of the École des hautes études en sciences sociales
{{DEFAULTSORT:Damisch, Hubert 1928 births 2017 deaths French art historians University of Paris alumni 20th-century French philosophers 20th-century French writers 21st-century French philosophers 21st-century French writers 20th-century French historians 21st-century French historians 20th-century French male writers French male non-fiction writers Writers from Paris