Jean Marie French

Jean Marie French

Poughkeepsie - Bard College Art History professor Jean Marie French (nee Sullivan), 82, died on May 2, 2019. French taught Medieval and Renaissance Art at Bard from 1971 to 2011, when after 40 years, she retired as Edith C. Blum Professor Emerita of Art History.

Bard College President Leon Botstein said, "Jean spearheaded the growth of the Art History Program. A distinguished medievalist, she was deeply engaged in contemporary art and helped forge links between the study of art history and the making of art. There were few who can equal her courage, her warmth, and her dedication to teaching."

French was an innovator, applying cutting-edge scientific techniques to Art History. In the mid-80s, she pioneered the use of nuclear science to match French medieval cathedral sculptures to their source quarries. Working with neutron activation scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, French proved that nine Romanesque reliefs dispersed among four museums on the U.S. Eastern seaboard came from the same stone source. This unique "fingerprinting" technique proved valuable not only for historic identification, but in matching stones for future restoration work, reuniting sculpture separated geographically over time, as well as unmasking forgeries.

"This has resulted in a whole new approach to art history that is scientifically based," said Charles T. Little, former curator of the department of medieval art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in a New York Times article (November 1, 1995). "It's [the partnership with Brookhaven] one of the great success stories of interdisciplinary study, involving geologists, archeologists, art historians, and nuclear scientists," he added.

French was born to Daniel J. and Marion (Larkin) Sullivan, and raised in Stoughton, MA. She earned an English B.A. from Seton Hill College. At Cornell University, she earned an M.A. in French literature before completing her art history Ph.D. dissertation on the Romanesque portal program of the abbey church of Saint-Pierre, Beaulieu-Sur-Dordogne. Her study remains the fundamental work on the subject according to former student and medievalist Ted Dewsnap.

"Jean was able to communicate the vitality of Romanesque Art. For a sculpture class, she secured a block of limestone and a few chisels to teach students the cutting force of the tool and the resistance of the material," remembered Dewsnap.

A dedicated tennis fan, French played tennis weekly for years, and traveled to New York City annually for the US Open Tennis. She also made a pilgrimage to London's Queens Club and Wimbledon, and The French Open in Paris.

Her daughter Alexis French, son Christian French, brother Daniel J. Sullivan and sister Mary Jane Sullivan Smith predeceased her. She is survived by her brother artist David Sullivan of Andover, MA, his wife Camellia, brother James Sullivan of Almont, CO, his wife Sandy, grandchildren Jasmine French Callaway and Christian T. French, and six great grandchildren.

A Celebration of her life is planned for Sunday, September 29 at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Memorial donations may be made to Bard College at www.annandaleonline.org/giving, referencing the Jean M. French Travel Award.