Obituary

The Academy of Fine Arts and Design mourns the sudden loss of our long-standing colleague, Head of the Department of Theory and History of Art, prof. PhDr. Ivan Rusina, CSc. (1944 – 2026), who unexpectedly passed away during the night of 18 to 19 June 2026.

Professor Rusina began his art-historical journey at the Slovak National Gallery, where he worked for many years as a curator of old art. He gradually became a leading specialist in Renaissance and Baroque art in Slovakia and naturally began teaching art history at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where he also completed his habilitation. He briefly left the Academy to become Deputy Director of the Institute of Art History of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. He returned to the Academy in the 1990s and established close cooperation with the Departments of Restoration, Sculpture and Printmaking.

He headed the Department of History and Theory of Art, where he trained several doctoral students, until his retirement. Even after retiring, as an external lecturer, he continued teaching at the Department of Restoration. He also expanded his art-historical focus to the field of sacred iconography, which he taught not only at our Academy but also at the Department of History and Theory of Art at the Faculty of Arts of Trnava University, where he was appointed professor.

Professor Rusina was the author of many important studies, several monographs and synthetic works – above all the series History of Fine Art in Slovakia, which he founded. He curated important exhibitions in Slovakia and Central Europe, including Saints in Central Europe and several iconographic exhibitions at the Slovak National Gallery.

We will remember.