Jean Boisselier

Jean Boisselier (26 August 1912 – 26 February 1996) was a French archaeologist, ethnologist, and art historian. He was a specialist on Khmers and a researcher focused on Buddhist thought and iconography. As a member of the École française d'Extrême-Orient (EFEO), he was responsible for the restoration of Angkor.

Biography Boisselier was born in Paris, son of the military illustrator and grandson of an architect. He discovered his vocation for Southeast Asian art in front of an illustration of Angkor Wat temple, during his visit to the in 1922. He attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1924, where he followed the courses taught by . He then became a drawing teacher with the hope of joining the School of Cambodian Arts.

In 1949, Boisselier travelled to Angkor to assist Henri Marchal for the conservation of Khmer monuments. He remained with Marchal only a few months, in 1950, he was appointed curator of the Museum of Phnom Penh where he set up a programme of restoration. After being a delegate of the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Cambodia in 1951, he was responsible for the scientific direction of the conservation work of Angkor in 1953. In 1955, he took part in the transfer of the management of the museum and the Buddhist Institute to the Cambodian authorities. He then left Cambodia for Thailand, where he discovered some murals from large pagodas, and studied the ancient city site of U Thong and the Dvaravati period.

Back in Paris, he resigned from the EFEO to join the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). From 1964, he resumed specific missions in Thailand, where he gave numerous lectures at the Silpakorn University and participated in the excavations of Dambegoda in Buttala Divisional Secretariat, Sri Lanka. From 1970 to 1980, he was director of the research works concerning India, Orient and Africa for the (UER) and the research training programme "Archaeology and Civilisations of the South and Southeast Asia" created at the University of Paris III. He was appointed Docteur Honoris Causa of the Silpakorn University in 1983. including a pocket-sized book——for Gallimard's "Découvertes" collection, which has been translated into 14 languages, including English.

Selected publications La statuaire khmère et son évolution. Saigon, EFEO (PEFEO, 37) 1955 Tendances de l’Art khmer. Commentaires sur 24 chefs-d’œuvre du musée de Phnom Penh Paris, PUF (Publ. du musée Guimet, Bibliothèque de diffusion, 42) 1956 La statuaire du Champa. Recherches sur les cultes et l’iconographie. Paris, EFEO (PEFEO, 54) 1963 Asie du Sud-Est : I. Le Cambodge. Paris, Picard (Manuel d’archéologie d’Extrême-Orient, 1) 1966 Notes sur l'art du bronze dans l'ancien Cambodge . Artibus Asiae 29/4. 1967 La sculpture en Thaïlande. Fribourg, Office du Livre (Bibliothèque des Arts). 1974 With Jean-Michel Beurdeley, La peinture en Thaïlande. Fribourg, Office du livre (Bibliothèque des Arts). 1976, deutsche Version: Malerei in Thailand. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1976, Il Sud-Est asiatico. Turin, Storia Universale dell’ Arte. 1986 La sagesse du Bouddha, collection « Découvertes Gallimard » (nº 194), série Religions. Éditions Gallimard, 1993, (new editions in 2010, 2019) UK edition – The Wisdom of the Buddha, 'New Horizons' series. Thames & Hudson, 1994 US edition – The Wisdom of the Buddha, "Abrams Discoveries" series. Harry N. Abrams, 1994 Bouddha, collection "Albums Beaux Livres". Éditions Gallimard, 2013 (preface by Trinh Xuan Thuan; an adaptation of La sagesse du Bouddha)