Ernst Gombrich, art historian, 92

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Monday November 5 12:36 PM ET 

Art historian Ernst Gombrich dies at 92

LONDON (Reuters) - Ernst Gombrich, the scholar whose ``The Story of
Art'' became one of the most famous and popular books on art ever
published, has died in London at the age of 92.

A spokeswoman at the Warburg Institute, the cultural archive of which
Gombrich was director, said he had died Saturday.

He was born in Vienna in 1909 and came to Britain in 1936 to join the
Warburg Institute, whose director he became in 1959.

During World War Two he worked for the British Broadcasting
Corporation's radio monitoring service at Caversham, west of London.

It was there that he heard of the death of Hitler, probably before
anyone else in Britain.

He guessed that the announcement was coming when German radio stations
started playing mournful music that he recognized as a Bruckner
symphony written to mark the death of Wagner.

``The Story of Art,'' published in 1950, was originally conceived as a
children's book. Written entirely from memory, it has sold six million
copies in 32 languages.

His other works include ``Art and Illusion,'' ``The Sense of Order''
and ``Meditations on a Hobby Horse.'' His latest project ``The
Preference for the Primitive'' is due to be published next year.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS 


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