Dr. Constantine Christofides

1928 - 2020

Dr. Constantine Christofides

1928 ~ 2020

Dr. Constantine Christofides died on June 24, 2020, of natural causes in New York City. He was intellectually engaged his entire life, and true to his character, actively enjoyed Manhattan's cultural offerings during his last decade after moving from France.

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, he was educated at Victoria College (Oxford & Cambridge Matriculation), graduating in 1945. At a young age he started his long journey as an intellectual, educator, photographer and committed humanist. The fertile international milieu of pre-war Alexandria nurtured his love of language, beginning with his first language, Greek, and progressing to Arabic, French, and finally English.

Emigrating alone as a young man to the United States, he completed his graduate studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (M.A. French, M.A. History, Ph.D. Comparative Literature) in 1956. He taught at the Universities of Iowa and Syracuse before accepting the chairmanship of Romance Languages at the University of Washington in 1965.

Photography became a passion early in his life, leading to exhibitions in both the United States and Europe. He received several national and international awards, including a first prize for color photography at the New York World's Fair in 1964. This commitment to the visual world inspired his interest in French medieval art history, which became his main scholarly interest.

After post-graduate study in art history at Poitiers, France, he embarked on the systematic creation of a photographic archive of medieval art and architecture in France and Spain that has yielded thousands of images. He then became a professor of art history at the University of Washington, and finally Director of the School of Art prior to his retirement in 1992. As an academic administrator and mentor at various points in his career, he chaired the Departments of Comparative Literature, Art History, and French and Italian. Following his retirement, he was named Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at the Institute for American Universities in Aix-en-Provence where he lived with his wife, Koren, for twelve years until 2009.

His Curriculum Vitae, worthy of several lifetimes, is too lengthy to print here but encompasses publications in the areas of seventeenth-century French Literature and Romanesque art in France, teaching awards, exhibitions, and lectures, both nationally and in Europe.

Principal publications include Medieval Art: A Commentary (University of Washington Press, 2007) and Fables of La Fontaine Illustrated (University of Washington Press, Seattle/London, 2006) written in collaboration with his wife Koren Christofides, and poet Christopher Carsten. For this book, which featured illustrations from 65 artists from around the world, himself included, he provided the introduction on La Fontaine and forty-seven newly translated fables. Le Monde (Paris) and The Journal of Folklore Research were among the first to review it to great acclaim. In 2011, his auto-fictional memoir, Alexandrine Reverberations, was published by Editions du Zaparoque.

Highlighted awards include being honored as a Chevalier in the Order of the Palmes Academiques by the French Republic in 1972 for his contributions to French culture. He was also selected by the Alexander Onassis Foundation to teach modern Greek poetry at the University of Washington in 2003.

A committed adherent of the principles of the French Enlightenment, his humanism led him to help students, colleagues, friends, and family move forward in life with sponsorship, advice, and encouragement. His influence spread through many generations.

Constantine Christofides retained a philosophically humorous view of the human condition, and relished the simple pleasures of life, especially travel, cuisine, cinema, art and the company of good friends. For all this, he is treasured and will be missed.

Dr. Christofides is survived by his wife, Koren, his two children, Alix and Philip, as well as their spouses; four grandchildren; two great grandchildren, and three first cousins in Athens, Greece and their families.

His wish was for memorial contributions to be made to the "Constantine Christofides Endowment for Study Abroad" at the University of Washington.

Contributions may be made online via the University of Washington's giving portal: https://bit.ly/christofides, or by check to Constantine Christofides Endowment for Study Abroad, UW School of Art + Art History + Design, Box 353440, Seattle, WA 98195.