René Huyghe (3 May 1906 Arras, France – 5 February 1997, Paris) was a French

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

on the

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

of art. He was also a

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

's department of paintings (from 1930), a professor at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

director of the

Musée Jacquemart-André The Musée Jacquemart-André (, ) is a private museum located at 158 Boulevard Haussmann in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris. The museum was created from the private home of Édouard André (art collector), Édouard An ...

, and, beginning in 1960 a member of the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. He was the father of the writer François-Bernard Huyghe.

Biography

René Huyghe studied

and

aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...

at the Sorbonne and the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre () is a selective institution of higher education and prestigious ''grande école'' located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology ...

. Made a curator of the Louvre's department of paintings in 1930, he rose to chief curator and professor of the école du Louvre in 1936, at the age of 30. He founded and edited the reviews ''L’Amour de l’Art'' and ''Quadrige''. He was one of the first figures in France to make films on art, such as his ''

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

'' (winner of a prize at the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

), and founded the International Federation of Films on Art. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Huyghe helped the director of the French Musées Nationaux

Jacques Jaujard Jacques Jaujard (3 December 1895 – 21 June 1967) was a Civil servant, senior civil servant of the French fine art administration instrumental in the evacuation and protection of the French arts collections during World War II. Evacuation of ...

to organise the evacuation of the Louvre's paintings into the unoccupied zone and took charge of their protection until the

Liberation of France The liberation of France () in the Second World War was accomplished through diplomacy, politics and the combined military efforts of the Allied Powers, Free French forces in London and Africa, as well as the French Resistance. Nazi Germany in ...

. In 1950, he was elected to the

, occupying the chair of psychology of the

plastic arts Plastic arts are art forms which involve physical manipulation of a ''plastic medium'', such as clay, wax, paint or even plastic in the modern sense of the word (a ductile polymer) to create works of art. The term is used more generally to ...

. In 1966, he won the

Erasmus Prize The Erasmus Prize is an annual prize awarded by the board of the Praemium Erasmianum Foundation to individuals or institutions that have made exceptional contributions to culture, society, or social science in Europe and the rest of the world. I ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. Huyghe was visiting Kress professor at the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...

for 1967 to 1968, and his picture archives of 47,000 items were acquired by the Image Collections of the National Gallery of Art Library. In 1974, Huyghe was made director of the Musée Jacquemart-André. It was at this time that he first met the Japanese philosopher

Daisaku Ikeda was a Japanese Buddhist leader, author, educator and nuclear disarmament advocate. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, which is considered among the largest of Japan's new religious movements but ...

with whom he published a dialogue titled ''Dawn After Dark''. The book was re-released in 2007 by the London-based publishing house I.B. Tauris. He was the creator of television shows about art abroad, but failed to realize his television projects, always refused by French broadcasting officials. With the victory of the socialist party candidate at the presidential election in May 1981, he was declared '' persona non grata'' for French television.« La chronique de

Jean-Pierre Thiollet Jean-Pierre Thiollet (; born 9 December 1956) is a French writer and journalist. He is also affiliated with the European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, a European trade union. Career Thiollet attended a school in Châtelleraul ...

: M. l'académicien a des ennuis », ''

Le Quotidien de Paris ''Le Quotidien de Paris'' (; The Daily of Paris) was a French newspaper founded in 1974 by Philippe Tesson. Along with ' and ', ''Le Quotidien de Paris'' made up the (Daily Press Group) which employed over 550 individuals," Philippe Tesson : « ...

'', 20 May 1983. Huyghe was president of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

's international committee of experts for saving

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

and served on the Conseil artistique des Musées de France.

Honours

*Grand Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

*Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit *Commander of the Order of Leopold

Main works

*''Histoire de l’art contemporain'' (Alcan, 1935) *''Cézanne'' (Plon, 1936) * ''L'univers de Watteau'', dans Hélène Adhémar, ''Watteau: sa vie, son œuvre. Catalogue des peintures et illustration'' (P. Tisné, 1950) *''La Peinture d’Occident Cent chefs-d’œuvre du musée du Louvre'' (Nouvelles éditions françaises, 1952) *''Dialogue avec le visible'' (Flammarion, 1955) *''L’Art et l’Homme'', Vol I (editor) (Larousse, 1957) Vol II (1958) Vol III (1961) *''Van Gogh'' (Flammarion, 1958) *''L’Art et l’Homme'' (Flammarion, 1960) *''Delacroix ou le Combat solitaire'' (Hachette, 1964) *''Les Puissances de l’image'' (Flammarion, 1965) *''Sens et destin de l’art'' (Flammarion, 1967) *''L’Art et le Monde moderne'' (ed. with Jean Rudel) 2 volumes (Larousse, 1970) *''Formes et Forces'' (Flammarion, 1971) *''La Relève du Réel, la peinture française au XIXe siècle, impressionnisme, symbolisme'' (Flammarion, 1974) *''Ce que je crois'' (Grasset, 1974) *''La nuit appelle l'aurore, dialogue orient-occident sur la crise contemporaine'' (with Daisaku Ikeda) (Flammarion, 1976) *''La Relève de l’Imaginaire, la peinture française au XIXe siècle, réalisme et romantisme'' (Flammarion, 1981) *''Les Signes du temps et l’Art moderne'' (Flammarion, 1985) *''Se perdre dans Venise'' (with Marcel Brion) (Arthaud, 1987) *''Psychologie de l’art, résumé des cours du Collège de France'' (Le Rocher, 1991) *''Dawn After Dark: A Dialogue with Daisaku Ikeda'' (I.B. Tauris, 2007)

References

External links

Huyghe, René
" ''

Dictionary of Art Historians The ''Dictionary of Art Historians'' (DAH) is an online encyclopedia of topics relating to art historians, art critics and their dictionaries. The mission of the project is to provide free, reliable, English-language information on published art h ...

'',

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Digital Art History & Visual Culture Research Lab {{DEFAULTSORT:Huyghe, Rene 1906 births 1997 deaths 20th-century French essayists 20th-century French historians 20th-century French male writers 20th-century French philosophers Academic staff of the Collège de France Curators from Paris École du Louvre alumni French art critics French art historians French essayists French male non-fiction writers Grand Cross of the Ordre national du Mérite Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour Members of the Académie Française People associated with the Louvre People from Arras French philosophers of art French philosophy writers French social philosophers University of Paris alumni