André Grabar

André Nicolaevitch Grabar (July 26, 1896 – October 3, 1990) was an historian of Romanesque art and the art of the Eastern Roman Empire and the Bulgarian Empire. Born in Ukraine and educated in the Russian Empire, he spent his career in Bulgaria (1919-1922), France (1922-1958) and the United States (1958-1990), and wrote all his papers in French. Grabar was one of the 20th-century founders of the study of the art and icons of the Eastern Roman Empire, adopting a synthetic approach embracing history, theology and interactions with the Islamic world.

His son Oleg Grabar also became an art historian, with a special interest in Islamic art.

André Nicolaevitch Grabar was born in the Ukraine on July 26, 1896, at Kiev (at that time part of the Russian Empire). He was educated in Kiev and at first thought of becoming an artist, joining the studio of a Kiev painter on leaving school. Deciding that he did not have sufficient talent he turned to the study of art history, although he remained an amateur painter. He began his university studies in Kiev, moving to St. Petersburg (then known as Petrograd) in 1915. While there he began to think about the connection between religious life and art, which would become his life's work. Discussing the connection between the Orthodox Christian faith and conservative aesthetics of the creators of Christian icons, Grabar explained, "Their role can be compared to that of musical performers in our day, who do not feel that their importance is diminished by the fact that they limit their talent to the interpretation of other people's work, since each interpretation contains original nuances." He left St. Petersburg in November 1917, a few days after the Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution, and completed his studies at Odessa, Ukraine, in 1919.

Grabar realized it would not be possible for him to pursue his career in what was becoming the Soviet Union and he left for Sofia, Bulgaria in January 1920. He spent three years surveying the medieval monuments of the country for the National Museum, often in "harsh conditions". He took many trips through the countryside, often by donkey or on foot.

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