Ellen D'Oench ( Gates; October 2, 1930 – May 22, 2009) was Curator Emerita of the

Davison Art Center Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, Connecticut. A Wesleyan graduate magna cum laude, she taught courses on museum studies, the history of prints, and the history of photographs. She curated the Davison Art Center from 1979 until 1998.

Biography

Ellen Gates attended Miss Porter's School in Farmington, Connecticut and later,

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

, graduating from Wesleyan. She became an expert on the art of Arthur Devis on whom she completed her PhD dissertation at Yale University under the title "Arthur Devis: Master of the Georgian Conversation Piece". In 2011, an exhibition was held at the Davison Art Center titled "Collecting Photographs: Ellen G. D'Oench and the Growth of the Collection". She wrote about and catalogued the work of

Robert F. Sheehan Robert Francis Sheehan (1922–1969) was an American photographer. He lived in Connecticut. Sheehan is known for his abstract color photography. Ellen D'Oench, who directed Wesleyan University's Davison Art Center wrote about and catalogued hi ...

's color photography.

Marriage

In 1949, Ellen Gates married Russell Grace D'Oench Jr. (1927-2002), a great-great-grandson of businessman W. R. Grace. The couple had four children, one of whom, Jennifer, predeceased her parents.

Selected publications

*''The conversation piece: Arthur Devis and his contemporaries''. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1980. *''Copper into gold: Prints by John Raphael Smith''.

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, New Haven, 1999.''Copper into Gold Prints by John Raphael Smith''
Yale Books. Retrieved April 28, 2016. *"Arthur Devis" in ''

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

'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, Oxford.

References

External links

Ellen Gates D'Oench obituary
via webcitation.org. Accessed April 5, 2024. {{DEFAULTSORT:D'Oench, Ellen 1930 births 2009 deaths American art historians American women art historians Wesleyan University faculty Wesleyan University alumni People from New York (state)