Puttfarken, Thomas 1943-2006 (Thomas Monrad Puttfarken)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born December 19, 1943, in Hamburg, Germany; died of a ruptured aneurysm, October 5, 2006. Historian, educator, and author. Puttfarken was an art historian at the University of Essex who was a scholar of European art from the Renaissance period on. After studying at the University of Innsbruck and the University of Munich, he earned a D.Phil. from the University of Hamburg. Puttfarken then traveled to England's famous Warburg Institute for further studies, where he drew the attention of the University of Essex. He was hired there in 1971, but the next year returned to Germany and taught at Hamburg for three years. Renewing their efforts to attract Puttfarken back, administrators at Essex eventually succeeded. The professor returned in 1974 and taught there until his unexpected demise. Made a full professor of art history and theory in 1984, he was also a former dean of students, dean of the School of Comparative Studies, and, from 1987 to 1990, pro vice-chancellor. He served as chair of the art department four times. As a scholar, Puttfarken enjoyed researching and teaching the artists of the Renaissance. Born in Germany during World War II, he was also personally interested in modern artists whose works were suppressed by the Nazis. The author of Roger de Piles' Theory of Art (1985) and The Discovery of Pictorial Composition: Theories of Visual Order in Painting 1400-1800 (2000), Puttfarken was an artist himself. This talent afforded him an especially sympathetic perspective on the artists he wrote and lectured about. The recipient of his university's Apple for the Teacher award in 2003, Puttfarken was a favorite of his students and was a strong supporter of local Essex artists. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2003.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), October 27, 2006, p. 79.