Victor Youritzin
David Ross Boyd
Professor
Art

Asked what his favorite place on campus is, Professor Victor Koshkin-Youritzin replies, "Wherever students are." Educated at Williams College, Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, and New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, Youritzin was a Ford Foundation Fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and taught at Vanderbilt and Tulane universities before joining the OU faculty in 1972. 

He teaches Understanding Art, 19th-Century Art, Cézanne to 1950, American Art, and Museum Studies.  Author of the award-winning Pavel Tchelitchew (2002) and numerous other exhibition catalogues, he is also co-author of American Watercolors from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (Abrams, 1991; a Book-of-the-Month-Club Selection).  His articles have appeared in such internationally important publications as ARTnews , ARTS , Gazette des Beaux-Arts , and the Sunday Los Angeles Times. 

A charismatic speaker, he has spoken at top institutions across the United States-from The Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Dallas Museum of Art-and has also lectured in England, France, Africa, and the Caribbean.  He has curated numerous art exhibitions and has served on many museum committees and boards, including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Program for Art on Film (MMA/Getty Trust). 

His prize-winning photography has been published internationally, including in the Italian Elle , and his photographs have been acquired by major institutions, among them the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France.  He has received the Oklahoma Governor's Arts and Education Award, and, at OU, numerous teaching awards, including the university's highest teaching honor, a lifetime David Ross Boyd Professorship. 

Listed in Who's Who in American Art and 2002, 2004 and 2006 Who's Who in the World, Youritzin is passionately dedicated to giving students access points to the magic and power of art.  As he explains, "In all my classes I try to communicate what I feel is the artistic genius-or lack thereof-behind many of the images I show.  Why are some pictures masterpieces and others not?  Given several works by the same artist, which is the best one, which would students buy for themselves or a museum?  What does the artist seem to be saying, how well does he or she say it, and is it worth saying or doing?  People should experience art actively and think critically, so they will arrive at the stage where they can articulate to themselves-and to others-why they believe a work is or is not artistically successful."