Philip Conisbee, Consummate Scholar and Communicator

Philip Conisbee, 62, senior curator of European paintings at the National Gallery, Washington, died Wednesday night from lung cancer complications. With a long list of scholarly and curatorial achievements, the British-born French paintings expert may be best remembered for two glorious exhibitions: Georges de La Tour and His World, 1996, the first American exhibition devoted to that artist; and the recent blockbuster Cézanne in Provence, 2006.

In a public television special based on the latter exhibition, he demonstrated his skills not only as a scholar but also as a compelling communicator, radiating quiet authority as he used the artist's biography and Provence's arcadian surroundings to illuminate the art.

I can't bring you a video clip from that documentary, but for those of you who understand French (made all the more understandable to some, thanks to his strong English accent), here's an interview he did with Télévision Provence:

With Nicholas Penny leaving his post as senior curator of sculpture and decorative arts to become director of London's National Gallery, Washington's premier art museum now has two major spots to fill.