John Walker (curator)
| John Walker | |
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John Walker, by Yousef Karsh
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| Born | 1906 Pittsburgh |
| Died | 1995 Amberley, West Sussex |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Bernard Berenson |
| Alma mater | Harvard University |
| Occupation | Art curator |
| Known for | director of the National Gallery of Art, |
John Walker III (1906 Pittsburgh - 1995 Amberley, West Sussex) was an American art curator, and the second director of the National Gallery of Art, from 1956 to 1969.
Life
Walker received an undergraduate degree in art history from Harvard University in 1930, where he studied with Paul J. Sachs. He formed the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, with Philip Johnson, Lincoln Kirstein, and Edward Warburg. He studied at Villa I Tatti in Florence with Bernard Berenson, and served as professor and assistant director of the American Academy in Rome from 1935 to 1939.[1]
Walker became chief curator of the National Gallery of Art in 1939 and was involved in identifying works of art looted by the Nazis following World War II. In 1956 he was named director of the National Gallery, succeeding David E. Finley, Jr., and remained in the position until his retirement in 1969.[2] During his tenure at the gallery, Walker cultivated donor relationships with collectors such as the Mellon family, Joseph Widener, Armand Hammer, and Chester Dale; his significant acquisitions included Rembrandt's Aristotle with the Bust of Homer, Fragonard's La Liseuse, El Greco's Laocoon, and the Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo da Vinci. Walker was the author of six books, including Bellini and Titian and Titian at Ferrara, and an autobiography, Self-Portrait with Donors. Like his predecessor, David Finley, Walker served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, from 1967 to 1971.[3]
In 1961, Walker hired J. Carter Brown as his assistant.[4] He retired in 1969, and lived in Florida, Fishers Island, New York, and England.[5]
Works
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1963, New York; 1964, Thames & Hudson, London, and other European editions
- Self-Portrait with Donors. Little, Brown, 1974, ISBN 978-0-316-91803-9
- Portraits: 5,000 Years, Abrams, 1983
- The National Gallery of Art: One Thousand Masterpieces. Abradale Press, 1995, ISBN 9780810981485
References
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- ↑ Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 556.
- ↑ http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/walkerj.htm
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