Prancûzų Komparatyvistines Menotyros Metamorfozes (Originalių Įžvalgų Ir Minčių Kupinas Pasaulis)
Metamorphoses of French Comparative Art History (The World of Original Insights and Thoughts)

Summary/Abstract: The review of: “Meno Formu Metamorfozës: Komparatyvistinë Focillono Ir Baltrušaičio Menotyra” by Odeta Žukauskienë; Bibliotheca Orientalis et Comparativa. VIII tomas Redkolegija: A. Andrijauskas, V. Bagdonavičius Vilnius: KFMI, 2006. ISBN 978-9986-638-83-4. My text discusses a new monograph by Odeta Žukauskienë, which is a unique phenomenon in art history works of the last decade and which is of no less quality than the best Western European texts. The evaluation of comparative art history conceptions as proposed by Focillon and Baltrušaitis has posed complex tasks. Thus, on the basis of authentic texts, the author continually moves to a broader discussion of the theoretical and methodological issues of comparative art history. It is obvious that the author is familiar with the context. Her education and academic background, as well as intellectual ambitions, permit her daringly to evaluate the cornerstone problems in contemporary comparative art history and to elucidate the essential similarities and differences in French, Austrian and German schools of comparative art history. What we have is not some cautious review-oriented work of a novice scholar, in which the competence of the author is shown in all ways possible, but rather a sensitively nuanced study by a mature theoretician. In her monograph the author reveals the peculiarity of the methodological approaches of Focillon and Baltrušaitis in researching the problems of the spread of art forms from the East to the western medieval culture, and she opens new promising fields of research and indicates the wide opportunities rendered by modern comparative research methods. The precisive manner of Odeta Žukauskienë’s style of writing and her attention to the notions translated and introduced into our human sciences are especially fascinating. In the perspective of her manner of writing, we can perceive high professionalism and the strict demands that the author has raised for herself. In my opinion, this original work should be published in western languages.

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