BRÉAL, Edouard Auguste. 19.2.1868 — Marseille 17/22.1.1941. French Critic, Art Historian and Painter. Son of —> Michel Bréal (1832–1915) and Henriette Bamberger. Bachelier ès lettres 1888, Licencie ès lettres 1890, Licencie en droit 1892, then further studies in Cambridge (Christ’s College). Among other things also studied Hindustani (Urdu). From 1907 living in…
BRANDT, Francis. Pendleton, Lancashire 6.5.1840 — Cheltenham, Gloucestershire 17.7.1925. British Civil Servant in India. Son of Robert Brandt and his wife Margaret Sarah. Educated at Cheltenham College, became famous as cricketer. After graduation from Oxford (Brasenose College, B.A. 1870) joined I.C.S. in 1862, served in South India. From 1884 Judge…
BRAMZELIUS, Abbe (Albert) Wilhelm Nils. Ystad, Skåne 27.7.1902 — Norrköping 6.6.1981. Swedish Painter and Scholar. Probably son of Alfred Olson Östberg (1878–1960) and his wife Beata. Ph.D., art studies in Paris (Académie Colarossi). Married sculptor Margareta (Märta) Eleonora Hammarlund (1909–1988), divorce 1975. Publications: Die hinduistische Pantheon-Glasmalerei. Eine ethnographische, religions- und kunstgeschichtliche…
BOWERS, Faubion. Miami, Oklahoma 29.1.1917 — New York City 17.11.1999. U.S. Japanologist. Son of Powell Clayton Bowers (1890–1978) and Emma Lou Robinson. Grew up in Tulsa. Briefly studied 1935 at Columbia University and, after music studies in France, in 1939 graduated from Juilliard Graduate School of Music as concert pianist.…
BOUGLÉ, Célestin Charles Alfred. Saint-Brieuc (Côtes-du-Nord, now Côtes-d’Armor) 1.6.1870 — Paris 25.1.1940. French Positivist Philosopher and Sociologist. Son of officer Célestin Aimable Bouglé (b. 1832) and Nathalie Louise Leroux (1841–1920), family originating in Brettany. Educated in Paris. From 1890 studies at École normale supérieure, agrégé in philosophy 1893. Ph.D. 1899. Taught…
BOISSELIER, Jean Henri Joseph Albin. Paris 26.8.1912 — Paris 26.2.1996. French Archaeologist, Art Historian and Buddhist Scholar. Son of the military illustrator Henri Boisselier (1881–1959). In the 1920s studied at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, already then interested in Cambodian art. Worked as painter and drawing teacher. In…
BOER, Richard Constant. Warnsveld near Zutphen 31.1.1863 — Amsterdam 20.8.1929. Dutch Linguist. Son of Richard Willem Boer and Constantia Gisius Nanning. Ph.D. 1888 Groningen. In 1888-1900 taught Dutch and geography at gymnasium in Leeuwarden, also PD at Groningen. In 1900-29 Professor of Old Germanic and Sanskrit at Amsterdam, after 1921…
BOELES, Jan Jetso. Leeuwarden 1909 — 2002. Dutch Businessman, Buddhist and South-East Asian Scholar. From 1935 until his death living in Thailand, except in 1940-45, when also studied South-East Asian archaeology at Leiden under N. J. Krom (also under Kuiper). For a while director of the Siam Society Research Centre.…
BLAIR, Chauncey Justus. Chicago 3.12.1913 — Chapel Hill, N.C. 1999. U.S. Indologist. Son of Chauncey Buckley Blair (1886–1948) and Mildred Mitchell Marshall (or Paulette M. Picard?). Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania. In 1959 living in West Hyattsville, Maryland, in 1981 in Bowie, Maryland, and in 1986 in Franconia, N.H. Married 1953…
BILLARD, Roger Louis. Puteaux (Paris) 29.12.1922 — Mennecy near Paris 30.12.2000. French Indologist. He was of modest origin and had to work after school, but the post in the Oriental bookshop Adrien Maisonneuve led him to studies and he soon entered É.L.O.V. Studied Hindi, Khmer, Arabic and Chinese, also Sanskrit…