Grabar, Igor

Writer, painter, museum director, and historian of Russian art and architecture. Grabar studied at the Academy of Arts at the University of St. Petersburg in 1894, and moved to Munich two years later. As an art student, he was affiliated with the Jugendstil movement, but returned to St. Petersburg in 1901. In 1913, he was appointed professor at the Academy of Arts and Director of the Tret'yakov Gallery in Moscow. Grabar supervised the restoration of Russian architecture and painting, publishing several articles on Russian art. His book, History of Russian Art (1910-15) became a foundational resource for the study of Russian art. In 1917, Grabar received a joint appointment as professor of art history at Moscow State University and as Director of the Scientific Research Institute of Art History at the Academy of Sciences, where he worked until his death in 1960. He is no relation to either André Grabar or Oleg Grabar.