Basil Gray, (1904 – 1989), was an art historian, Islamicist, author, and the head of the British Museum's Oriental department.

Early life

Basil Gray was born in 1904 at Kensington, the son to Charles Gray and Florence Elworthy Cowell. His father was a

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...

surgeon. He attended

Bradfield College Bradfield College, formally St Andrew's College, Bradfield, is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 11–18, located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire. It is not ...

and in the 1920s studied at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

.Gray, Basil
, ''

Dictionary of Art Historians The ''Dictionary of Art Historians'' (DAH) is an online encyclopedia An online encyclopedia, also called an Internet encyclopedia, or a digital encyclopedia, is an encyclopedia accessible through the internet. Examples include Wikipedia and '' ...

'', Art History Webmasters Association. Retrieved 10 March 2016

Career

Following graduation in 1927 Gray travelled to the

Schönbrunn Palace Schönbrunn Palace (german: Schloss Schönbrunn ; Central Bavarian: ''Schloss Scheenbrunn'') was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers, located in Hietzing, Vienna. The name ''Schönbrunn'' (meaning “beautiful spring”) has its root ...

and Osterreichisches Museum in Vienna to view

Mughal painting Mughal painting is a style of painting on paper confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums (muraqqa), from the territory of the Mughal Empire in South Asia. It emerged from Persian miniature paint ...

. While in Vienna he studied under

Josef Strzygowski Josef Rudolph Thomas Strzygowski (March 7, 1862 – January 2, 1941) was a Polish-Austrian art historian known for his theories promoting influences from the art of the Near East on European art, for example that of Early Christian Armenian arch ...

, and developed a friendship with

Otto Demus Otto Demus (born St. Pölten, Austria, 1902; died Vienna, 17 November 1990) was an Austrian art historian and Byzantinist. He is considered a member of the Vienna School of Art History. Between 1921 and 1928, Demus studied art history at the Uni ...

, art historian and

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Rom ...

. Following this he worked with art historian

David Talbot Rice David Talbot Rice (11 July 1903 in Rugby – 12 March 1972 in Cheltenham) was an English archaeologist and art historian. He has been described variously as a "gentleman academic" and an "amateur" art historian, though such remarks are no ...

at the British Academy excavations of the palace of the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople.Pinder-Wilson Ralph, (1989
Obituary - Basil Gray 1904-1989
''

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

'' (journal), Vol. 27, British Institute of Persian Studies, pp.5-6. Retrieved 10 March 2016 On his return to England he joined in 1930 the Sub-Department of Oriental Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, under

Laurence Binyon Robert Laurence Binyon, CH (10 August 1869 – 10 March 1943) was an English poet, dramatist and art scholar. Born in Lancaster, England, his parents were Frederick Binyon, a clergyman, and Mary Dockray. He studied at St Paul's School, London ...

, in 1940 becoming the Department's deputy keeper, and in 1946, its keeper. Under his tenure he managed employment intake, collections and acquisitions, and curated special exhibitions using the Department's own collections, and those from public and private sources. The

archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...

Roman Ghirshman Roman Ghirshman (, ''Roman Mikhailovich Girshman''; October 3, 1895 – 5 September 1979) was a Russian-born French archeologist who specialized in ancient Persia. Ghirshman spent nearly thirty years excavating ancient Persian archeological ...

invited Gray to Iran in 1951, to study Ville Royale excavations at

Susa Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...

. Further visits to Iran included Iranian Institute's and

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh la ...

lectures at Isfahan,

Tabriz Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...

, and

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of Razavi Khorasan Province and has a po ...

, and for

Shiraz Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars () and Persis. As of the 2016 national census, the population of the city was 1,565,572 ...

he urged, as a member of the Iranian Institute governing body, investigations of the dye trade between the Persian Gulf and China. He became the temporary Director of the British Museum in 1968, and retired in 1969. During retirement his focus turned to the relationship between Chinese ceramics and Persian painting. He became Vice-President of the British Institute of Persian Studies in 1969, chaired the Sixth International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology at Oxford in 1972, and became President of the Societas Iranologica Europara in 1983. As an art historian Gray wrote exhibition guides and books on Orientalism and Islamic Art. A curatorial position in the Department of Asia at the British Museum is named after Gray.

Personal life

In 1933 Basil Gray married the

calligrapher Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as " ...

Nicolete Mary Binyon (1911-1997), daughter of

, poet, art scholar and dramatist.Hatcher, John (2004); "Binyon, (Robert) Laurence (1869–1943)", ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...

There were five children from the marriageBarker, Nicolas
"Obituary: Nicolete Gray"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'', 12 June 1997. Retrieved 10 March 2016 including the art historian Camilla Gray. Basil Gray died on 10 June 1989 and is buried in the churchyard of

Long Wittenham Long Wittenham is a village and small civil parish about north of Didcot, and southeast of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from the former Wallingford Rur ...

, Oxfordshire.

Publications

*Gray, Basil, ''Japanese Screen Painting'',

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel ...

*''The Arts of India'', Basil Gray (editor), Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd, *Gray, Basil, ''Rajput painting (The Faber gallery of oriental art)'', Pitman Publishing (1949) *Gray, Basil, ''Japanese Woodcuts'', Bruno Cassirer *Gray, Basil, ''Treasures of Indian miniatures in the Bikaner Palace collection'', Cassirer; Faber and Faber (1951) *Gray, Basil, ''Early Chinese pottery and porcelain (Faber monographs on pottery and porcelain series)'', Faber and Faber, 1st ed. edition (1953) *Gray, Basil; Ashton, Leigh, ''Chinese Art'', Faber and Faber (1953), *''Rajput Painting'', Basil Gray (introduction and notes), Faber and Faber (1956) *Gray, Basil. ''Persian Painting: Treasures of Asia, Vol. II''. Editions d'Art Albert Skira, Geneva (1961) *Gray, Basil, ''Persian miniatures from ancient manuscripts (Fontana Unesco art books)'', Collins; Unesco (1962) *Barrett, Douglas and Gray, Basil. ''Painting of India: Treasures of Asia, Vol. V''. Editions d'Art Albert Skira, Geneva (1963) *Gray, Basil, Garner, Harry M, ''The Ceramic Art of China'', The Victoria & Albert Museum (1971), *''The Persian art of the book : catalogue of an exhibition held at the Bodleian Library to mark the sixth International Congress of Iranian Art and Archaeology'', Basil Gray (editor), B.W. Robinson (editor), Oxford : Bodleian Library; 1st edition (1972) *''Illustrations to the "World History" of Rashid Al-Din'', Basil Gray (editor),

Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a scholarly publisher of academic books and journals, based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History Edinburgh University Press was founded in the 1940s and became a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Edinburgh ...

(1976), *Gray, Basil, ''Persian Painting (Treasures of Asia)'',

Macmillan Publishers Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publ ...

(1977), *Gray, Basil; Barrat D., ''Indian Painting (Treasures of Asia)'', Macmillan Publishers (1978), *Gray, Basil; Akimushkin O. F., ''The Arts of the Book in Central Asia- 14th-16th Centuries'', Shambhala Publications (1979), *Gray, Basil, ''Sung Porcelain and Stoneware (The Faber monographs on pottery & porcelain)'' Faber and Faber, 1st edition (1984), *Gray, Basil, ''Persian Painting (Skira)'', Editions d'Art Albert Skira SA (1995), *Gray, Basil, ''La Peinture Indienne - Traduit de l'Anglais'', Flammarion (2008), *Gray, Basil (author); Vincent, J,B. (illustrator),
Buddhist Cave Paintings at Tun-huang
', Literary Licensing,

LLC A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

(2011), See also *Rogers, John Michael, “Basil Gray,” ''Iran'' 17, 1979, pp. 3–9 (includes a bibliography of Gray's works to 1979) *Gray, Edmund, "Centenary Bibliography of Basil Gray", in ''Iran'' Vol. 42 (2004), pp. 235–245 (continuation of Rogers' bibliography, after 1979)

Obituaries and memorials

*Watson, William, “Basil Gray, CBE,” ''Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society 1988-89'', 1990, pp. 9–10. *Pinder-Wilson, Ralph, “Basil Gray, 1904-89,” ''Iran'' 27, 1989, pp. v-vi. *Pinder-Wilson, Ralph, “Basil Gray, 1904-89,” in ''Proceedings of the British Academy 105: 1999 Lectures and Memoirs'', Oxford, 2000, pp. 439–57.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Basil 1904 births 1989 deaths People from Kensington People educated at Bradfield College Alumni of New College, Oxford English art historians Employees of the British Museum English curators Fellows of the British Academy Historians of East Asian art Historians of Islamic art