Theodore Stebbins, Jr.
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Theodore Ellis Stebbins, Jr. (born August 11, 1938) is an American
art historian Art history is the study of artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Traditionally, the ...
and
curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...
. Stebbins is emeritus Curator of American Art at the
Harvard Art Museums The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...
.


Career

From 1977 to 1999, Stebbins was the John Moors Cabot Curator of American Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. During his tenure, he organized nineteen exhibitions on subjects ranging from 18th century artist
John Singleton Copley John Singleton Copley (July 3, 1738 – September 9, 1815) was an Anglo-American painter, active in both colonial America and England. He was believed to be born in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Richard and Mary Singleton Copley ...
to The Lane Collection of modern art. As curator, he guided the museum's acquisition of over three hundred paintings, from 17th century
limner A limner is an illuminator of manuscripts, or more generally, a painter of ornamental decoration. A mention of medieval limners' work appears in the book ''Methods and Materials of Painting'' by Charles Lock Eastlake (1793–1865). United Ki ...
s to
Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter. A major figure in the abstract expressionist movement, Pollock was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household ...
and
Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...
. From 1968 to 1977, he was Curator of American Paintings at
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
, as well as an
associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. In the ''North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position ...
of art history for the university. At Yale, he built the collection of 19th century American landscape and
still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...
s; his major purchase was
Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painting, landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for paintin ...
's '' Mt. Ktaadn'' (1853). Complementing his career as a curator and
academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
, Stebbins served on the board of directors and the Art Advisory Council of the
International Foundation for Art Research The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) is a non-profit organization which was established to channel and coordinate scholarly and technical information about works of art. IFAR provides an administrative and legal framework within w ...
. He also serves as a trustee for the Heinz Family Foundation, in honor of his high school friend and college roommate, H. John Heinz III. He has been advisor to the
Henry Luce Henry Robinson Luce (April 3, 1898 – February 28, 1967) was an American magazine magnate who founded ''Time'', ''Life'', '' Fortune'', and ''Sports Illustrated'' magazines. He has been called "the most influential private citizen in the Amer ...
Foundation, the
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
, the San Francisco Art Museums, the
Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Located in the Wade Park District of University Circle, the museum is internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian art, Asian and Art of anc ...
, the James McGlothlin Collection, and many other individuals, museums, and foundations. He was advisor to the
Kingdom of Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
when it acquired the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection of American Art. During the 1980s, he served two terms on the Art Advisory Panel of the Internal Revenue Department. From 2002 to 2015 Stebbins was the Harvard University Art Museum's first curator of American art, while teaching a seminar on the
Gilded Age In History of the United States, United States history, the Gilded Age is the period from about the late 1870s to the late 1890s, which occurred between the Reconstruction era and the Progressive Era. It was named by 1920s historians after Mar ...
. He published the two-volume scholarly catalog, ''American Paintings at Harvard'' (volume two published in 2008 and volume one in 2014). As curator, he brought to Harvard its first paintings by
Arthur Dove Arthur Garfield Dove (August 2, 1880 – November 23, 1946) was an American artist. An early American modernist, he is often considered the first American abstract painter.. Dove used a wide range of media, sometimes in unconventional combinat ...
,
Georgia O’Keeffe Georgia Totto O'Keeffe (November 15, 1887 March 6, 1986) was an American modernist painter and draftswoman whose career spanned seven decades and whose work remained largely independent of major art movements. Called the "Mother of American m ...
, and
Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning ( , ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. Born in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, he moved to the United States in 1926, becoming a US citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married pa ...
, while also overseeing the gift of the Didi and David Barrett Collection of Outsider Art. In 2021 Stebbins and his wife Susan Cragg Stebbins gave their collection of seventy 19th century American works to the Morse Museum of American Art in Winter Park, Florida.


Works

*''Life and Work of
Martin Johnson Heade Martin Johnson Heade (August 11, 1819 – September 4, 1904) was an American Painting, painter known for his salt marsh Landscape art, landscapes, seascapes, and depictions of hummingbirds, often depicted with orchids, as well as lotus blossoms ...
'', 1975, *''American Master Drawings & Watercolors: A History of Works on Paper from Colonial Times to the Present'', 1976, *''Oil Sketches by Frederic Edwin Church'', 1978, *''Boston Collects: Contemporary Painting & Sculpture'', 1986, *''The Lane Collection: 20th Century Paintings in the American Tradition'', 1983, *''Charles Sheeler: The Photographs'', with Norman Keyes Jr., 1987, *''The Lure of Italy: American Artists and the Italian Experience, 1760–1914'', 1992, *''Still Life Painting in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'', with Karyn Esielonis, Eric Zafran, and Malcom Rogers, 1994, *''
Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...
's Westons—Portraits and Nudes'', 1994, *''Edward Weston: Photography and Modernism'', with Leslie Furth and Karen Quinn, 1999, *''The Life and Work of Martin Johnson Heade: A Critical Analysis and
Catalogue raisonné A (or critical catalogue) is an annotated listing of the works of an artist or group of artists and can contain all works or a selection of works categorised by different parameters such as medium or period. A ''catalogue raisonné'' is normal ...
'', 2000, *''The Last
Ruskin Ruskin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ruskin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Ruskin (given name), a list of people Places United States * Ruskin, Florida, a census-designated place * Ruskin, Georgia, an uni ...
ians:
Charles Eliot Norton Charles Eliot Norton (November 16, 1827 – October 21, 1908) was an American author, social critic, and Harvard professor of art based in New England. He was a progressive social reformer and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries c ...
,
Charles Herbert Moore Charles Herbert Moore (April 10, 1840 – February 15, 1930) was an American university professor, painter, and architectural historian, known as the first director of Harvard University's Fogg Art Museum. Initially he was one of many follow ...
, and Their Circle'', with Virginia Anderson and Melissa Renn, 2007, *''Life as Art: The Work of Gregory Gillespie and Frances Cohen Gillespie'', 2008, *''American Paintings at Harvard: Volume Two: Paintings, Watercolors, Pastels, and Stained Glass by Artists Born 1826-1856'', with Virginia Anderson and Kimberly Orcutt, 2008, *''American Paintings at Harvard: Volume One: Paintings, Watercolors, and Pastels by Artists Born Before 1826'', with Melissa Renn, 2014, *''Ray Spillenger: Rediscovery of a Black Mountain Painter'', Prestel, 2016, *''Rethinking American Art: Collectors, Critics, and the Changing Canon''. David R. Godine, 2025. ISBN 978-1567928341


References


External links


Boston University profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stebbins, Theodore 1938 births Living people American art historians American art curators Phillips Exeter Academy alumni Harvard University faculty Yale University faculty Boston University faculty Harvard College alumni Harvard Law School alumni