Duthuit, Georges |
| ART CRITIC, PHILOSOPHER (FRANCE) |
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BORN 4 Jun 1891, Paris - DIED 9 Aug 1973, Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône GRAVE LOCATION Nice, Alpes-Maritimes: Cimetière du Château |
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Son of an architect from Paris.His parents died of tuberculosi when he was twelve and he went to live with a very strcit uncle. In 1907 he discovered the art of Matisse at the Salon des Indépendents. Matthew Prichard pointed him towards Byzantine art. During the First world War he served in the army and he spent his free time at Issy, the home of Matisse. There he met his daughter Marguerite. After the war he decided not to become an architect. He married Marguerite in 1923 and wrote a book on Renoir. In 1925 he accompanied Matisse to Sicily. he became an assistant professor at the École du Louvre and he assisted Georges Salles on a book on on Byzantine art. In the 1930s he published two books on Coptic art. In 1933 it was discovered that he had an affair with Georgia Sitwell, the wife of Sacheverell Sitwell. He had been working on a book on Matisse but after his brief affair was discovered the latter forbade him to write about him. After Matisse's death in 1954 he planned a monograph on Matisse, assisted by Pierre Schneider. He never published the book but Schneider became a distinguished Matisse scholar. In 1956 he attacked André Malraux book "Le musée imaginaire" with his "Le musée inimaginable". Together with Pierre Reverdy (1889-1960) he published a book on Matisse's last works. He also wrote about Samuel Beckett. Family • Wife: Matisse, Marguerite Related persons • wrote about Beckett, Samuel • wrote about Matisse, Henri |
| Images |
 The grave of Georges Duthuit and Marguerite Matisse at the Cimetière du Château, Nice. Picture by Androom (29 Nov 2008) |
Sources • nytimes.com |
