Dossier f118 - Techniques of Primitivism (Mt. Holyoke College)

Vojtech Jirat-Wasiutynski was born in Penley, Wales, the son of a Polish army officer and a Czech industrialist's daughter, both dispalced in the aftermath of World War II. Educated in both london, England, and Montreal, Quebec, he graduated from Princeton University, with his Ph.D., in 1975. His doctoral dissertaion was entitled "Paul Gaugin in the Context of Symbolism", which was later published in the series 'Outstanding Dissertations in Fine Arts' (New York). He had begun teaching at Queen's University, in the Department of Art, in 1972, and has been described as a pioneer in the collaboration between art historians and conservators. Over the years too, he was inspried by his wife, Dr. Thea Burns, a paper conservator and art historian in her own right, who co-authored articles with her husband on Gaugin, and artists' use of of charcoal in drawings.
Dr. Wasiutynski co-authored two important books, the first, with paintings conservator H. Travers Newton entitled, "Vincent Van Gogh's Self-Portrait Dedicated to Paul Gaugin: An Historical and Technical Study" (1984), and the second, with the same author, entitled, "Technique and Meaning in the Paintings of Paul Gaugin", published in 2000. Both these works sought to understand how the artist's technical and material choices might contribute to the understanding of the cultural meaning of the works they created. He also wrote and lectured extensively, in both English and French, on a variety of related, and other, topics.
In his latter years, Dr. Wasiutynski sought to understand historical problems surrounding art in terms of cultural geography. At the time of his death, he was working on a book entitled, "Modernity and Region: Representing Provence in Nineteenth Century Visual Culture." This work was an examination of how Provence came to be at the cross-roads of the extremes of modernity and tradition.
Dr. Vojtech Jirat-Wasiutynski died suddently at his home in Kingston, Ontario, on 8 July 2006. He is survived by his wife and a son, Andrew, who lives in London, England.