Philippe Stern (11 April 1895 – 4 April 1979) was a French

art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...

specialising in Indian and Southeast Asian art, particularly from the

Khmer Empire The Khmer Empire was an empire in Southeast Asia, centered on Hydraulic empire, hydraulic cities in what is now northern Cambodia. Known as Kambuja (; ) by its inhabitants, it grew out of the former civilization of Chenla and lasted from 802 t ...

and

Champa Champa (Cham language, Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ, چمڤا; ; 占城 or 占婆) was a collection of independent Chams, Cham Polity, polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day Central Vietnam, central and southern Vietnam from ...

. He taught Indian and Southeast Asian art at 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 ...

from 1929 to 1965 and was chief curator of the

Guimet Museum The Guimet Museum (full name in ; ''MNAAG''; ) is a Parisian art museum with one of the largest collections of Asian art outside of Asia that includes items from Cambodia, Thailand, Viet Nam, Tibet, India, and Nepal, among other countries. Found ...

in Paris from 1953 to 1965.

Biography

Stern first studied philosophy with

Émile Chartier Émile-Auguste Chartier (; 3 March 1868 – 2 June 1951), commonly known as Alain (), was a French philosopher, journalist, essayist, pacifist, and teacher of philosophy. Early life and teaching Alain was born in 1868 in Normandy, in the rural ...

(Alain), then musicology and composition, before turning his attention to Indian and Khmer cultures. From 1921, he worked as an assistant at the

''(Musée Guimet)'', and from 1925 as a curator at the Indochina Museum ''(Musée indochinois)'' in the Trocadéro Palace. At the

École pratique des hautes études The (), abbreviated EPHE, is a French postgraduate top level educational institution, a . EPHE is a constituent college of the Université PSL (together with ENS Ulm, Paris Dauphine or Ecole des Mines). The college is closely linked to É ...

(EPHE) he completed his thesis on the

Bayon The Bayon (, ) ( ''BAI-on'') is a richly decorated Khmer temple related to Buddhism at Angkor in Cambodia. Built in the late 12th or early 13th century as the state temple of the King Jayavarman VII (), the Bayon stands at the centre of Jaya ...

Angkor Thom Angkor Thom ( ; meaning "Great City"), alternatively Nokor Thom ( ), located in present-day Cambodia, was the last and most enduring capital city of the Khmer empire, Khmer Empire. It was established in the late twelfth century by King Jayavarman V ...

and the development of Khmer art in 1927, which was considered groundbreaking for this field of study. George Cœdès wrote that with this work, "the study of Khmer archaeology has entered a new phase". Stern credited Cœdès as well as Joseph Hackin (director of the Musée Guimet) and Henri Parmentier (director of the archaeological service of the École française d'Extrême-Orient), as his principal academic patrons. In the same year, he was appointed associate curator at the Guimet Museum. Together with Hubert Pernot, Stern set up the joint music library of the Paris Museum of Speech and Gesture ''(Musée de la parole et du geste)'' and the Guimet Museum in 1928. Besides his museum work, he became a lecturer at the École du Louvre in 1929, teaching Art of India and Indochina. Among his students were Jeannine Auboyer, Jean Marie Casal, Jean Boisselier and Subhadradis Diskul. Following Stern's initiative, most of the Khmer sculptures from the Indochina Museum at Trocadéro were transferred to the Musée Guimet. His only field research trip took him to Vietnam and Cambodia in 1936, where he took part in the excavations at

Phnom Kulen Phnom Kulen (or Kulen Mountain; , ; ) is a mountain range and a part of Phnom Kulen National Park in Siem Reap Province, Cambodia. Geography Rather than a hill range, Phnom Kulen is an isolated chain of small mountain plateaux of moderate heig ...

. When France was occupied by Nazi Germany in the course of 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 ...

in 1940, Stern was threatened with anti-Semitic persecution and fled to

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

in the " free zone" administered by the

Vichy regime Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the defeat against ...

. After the liberation of France in 1944, he married the photographer Thérèse le Prat (1895-1966), who was known for her pictures of Southeast Asia and Oceania. Following the death of

René Grousset René Grousset (; 5 September 1885 – 12 September 1952) was a French historian who was curator of both the Cernuschi Museum and the Guimet Museum in Paris and a member of the prestigious Académie française. He wrote several major works on ...

, Stern took over as chief curator of the Guimet Museum in 1953. When he retired in 1965, he was replaced by his former student and long-time colleague Jeannine Auboyer. He then continued to publish his research findings.

Selected works

* * * Co-authored with Mireille Bénisti. * * * *

References

External links

* http://angkor.wat.online.fr/dec-stern.htm
Trésors d'art du Vietnam, la sculpture du Champa
*
Rénovation du musée national des Arts asiatiques-Guimet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stern, Philippe Historians of Southeast Asian art Historians of Indian art French art historians French Indologists Directors of museums in France Academic staff of the École du Louvre French art curators Curators from Paris French male non-fiction writers 20th-century French male writers 1895 births 1979 deaths

Biography

Selected works

References

Further reading

External links