Art Critic Victor Ieronim Stoichita

Victor Ieronim Stoichita, the current head of the Department of History of Art at Fribourg University in Switzerland, was trained in Bucharest, where he achieved his professional maturity, and then became well known in France and Germany.

România Internațional, 19.09.2015, 12:02

Victor Ieronim Stoichita reached Switzerland after a long journey, which took him to Paris and Munich, and even to Harvard University. Everywhere he went he was appreciated for his pertinent criticism of works of art, including cinematographic productions. Victor Ieronim Stoichita was an assistant lecturer with the Art History and Theory Department of the Fine Arts Academy in Bucharest (1973-1981) and with the Institute of Art History of Munich University (1984-1990). He was a visiting professor at various universities, such as Sorbonne (1987), Gottingen (1989-1990), Frankfurt (1990), Harvard (2005-2007) and College de France (2008).

Since 2012 he has been a member of the Italian National Academy and since 2014 a member of the European Academy. Last year he was the chairman of Louvre’s Annual Art Chair and was awarded the title of “Chevalier Des Arts et des Lettres” of the French Republic. Humanitas Publishers in Bucharest has issued an author series and has so far released several titles, including “The Sherlock Homes Effect”, “A Brief History of Shade”, and “The Pygmalion Effect: from Ovid to Hitchcock.” The most recent book is called “How to Savour a Painting and other Art History Studies,” also published by Humanitas. The volume is a collection of 12 studies published or read in various circumstances, and approaching various topics.

They cover an extensive timeframe, namely the period between the 14th and the 20th centuries. A first version of this collection has already been printed in Spanish, and it was translated into Romanian by Anca Oroveanu and Ruxandra Demetrescu, both professors with the Bucharest Art University.

Here is Anca Oroveanu: “There are two things that I would like to say about this collection. The first has to do with the nature of the texts included in this volume. While each article pays close attention to the analysis of specific works of art, they do not disregard a broader perspective on things. Then, there is that iconographic richness, the diversity of the imagery he resorts to in order to prove his point. All of these define a certain type of writing, known as academic writing. I would say, though, that at the same time the author makes sure that the standards of academic writing are not a barrier to those readers who are less specialized. His writings are reader-friendly and are intended to engage the public on a journey into a certain topic.”

The images analysed by Victor Ieronim Stoichita in the volume called “How to Savour a Painting” are works by great painters such as Titian and Caravaggio, but also by emblematic figures of pop culture such as Andy Warhol. All the comments are subordinated to one fundamental theme, that of pluri-sensoriality, Anca Oroveanu tells us:

“These are situations in which a painting triggers sensorial impressions from areas other than sight, but with its own means and without leaving its territory. How this happens is actually the strongpoint of the texts included in this volume. The first text discusses the senses of taste and smell. In others, the focus is on another sense, which competes with sight. It’s hearing, particularly important for the musical works of art. References to this sense are made in the study on Caravaggio. Topics like that are reflected in the entire volume”.

So who would be interested in this approach? Ruxandra Demetrescu is attempting an answer.

“We could ask who this book is addressed to. Obviously, the first answer would be the small world of Romanian art critics. On the other hand, it’s more than that. Victor Stoichita has the voice of an art critic who is by no means traditional. On the contrary, he is part of the vanguard of this field, one of those critics who go deeper into the meaning of an image, which doesn’t just illustrate a theme, but says something about the world we live in or about the world in which that image was created. Therefore, the author launches an invitation to reading and watching, to re-reading fundamental texts such as Emile Zola’s novels. But even more than that, it’s an invitation to look into details, through a magnifying glass. This enhancement of details is embraced by the author from the very preface to the book. In brief, I believe that each reader of good texts can find something interesting in this volume.”

Attending the launch of his volume “How to Savour a Painting”, Victor Ieronim Stoichita spoke about the book.

“It is certainly not a novelty to say that the journey of any creator has ups and downs, and is made up of both enthusiasm and disappointment. The ups and downs are inevitable even at an old age. I have reasons to believe that my journey has been worth taking, and this is beneficial. It is true that any book is not just the outcome of an author’s and a team’s efforts, but also of the readers’ effort, more precisely of the way in which the book has been read. In our case things are even more interesting, because both Ruxandra and Anca are collaborators to this book. They translated it, but they also had the opportunity to take a step back and judge it in an objective way. I was very much impressed with how they read the book, and how they actually brought life to it. I hope that the other readers too will be just as open towards the content of the book”.

“How to Savour a Painting” is the tenth title in the Victor Ieronim Stoichita author series, published by Humanitas.