Prof. Dr. emeritus Helmut Brinker (1939-2012)
Former Chair of East Asian Art History (1982-2006)
Professor Brinker was the inaugural chair of East Asian Art History at the University of Zurich. Having gained his PhD at Heidelberg, Brinker had been working as a curatorial assistant at Museum Rietberg since 1962. In 1975, he gained the rank of privatdozent and later, associate professor. In 1982, he convinced the university to establish a full chair for East Asian Art History. In the function of chair, Brinker committed himself to the study of Zen Buddhism in its transnational dimensions and pursued an applied approach to teaching by taking students to the stacks of Museum Rietberg.
- Obituary by Dr. Albert Lutz, Director of the Museum Rietberg, in the NZZ of July 13, 2012: NZZ Obituary (in German) (PDF, 189 KB)
- Obituary by Prof. Francois Louis, Artibus Asiae vol. 72, no. 1 (2012),
193-195: ObituaryAA (PDF, 394 KB)