Joseph Downs (July 24, 1895 – September 8, 1954) was an American museum curator and scholar of American

decorative arts ] The decorative arts are arts or crafts whose aim is the design and manufacture of objects that are both beautiful and functional. This includes most of the objects for the interiors of buildings, as well as interior design, but typically excl ...

. After 17 years at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

, Downs became founding curator of the

Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library is an American estate and museum in Winterthur, Delaware. Winterthur houses one of the richest collections of Americana in the United States. The museum and estate were the home of Henry Francis du Pont ...

from 1949 to 1954. His assistant, Charles F. Montgomery, became Winterthur's first director after Downs' death.

Early life and education

Downs was born in

Shutesbury Shutesbury is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,717 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts. History For at least 2,000 years, Nipmuc towns along the Towanu ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

on July 24, 1895, to parents Daniel and Mary MacDonald Downs. He served overseas with the

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

during World War I, graduated from the Boston Museum School in 1921, and traveled to Europe on a postgraduate fellowship from his alma mater in 1922–23.

Career

Downs worked for two years at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and designed furniture for another two years in New York City. He worked as assistant curator and then curator of the decorative arts at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

from 1925 to 1932. He returned to New York in 1932 to serve as curator of the American Wing of the

, where he created exhibitions and authored more than 150 publications in venues such as '' Magazine Antiques''. He installed the first folk art (

Pennsylvania German The Pennsylvania Dutch (), also referred to as Pennsylvania Germans, are an ethnic group in Pennsylvania in the United States, Ontario in Canada, and other regions of both nations. They largely originate from the Palatinate region of Germany ...

) period rooms ("House of the Miller at Millbach") ever put in place at an American museum. In 1949,

Henry Francis du Pont Henry Francis du Pont (May 27, 1880 – April 11, 1969) was an American horticulturist, collector of early American furniture and decorative arts, breeder of Holstein Friesian cattle, and scion of the powerful du Pont family. Converted into ...

hired Downs to catalog du Pont's vast antiques collection at his Winterthur estate in Delaware. When the Winterthur Museum opened to the public in 1951, Downs became the museum's first curator. His associate, Charles F. Montgomery, became assistant curator and succeeded him as chief curator and museum director after his death. In 1952, Downs published the first volume (''American Furniture of the Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods'') of a planned monumental study on American furniture. However, his untimely death in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

on September 8, 1954, meant the three sequel volumes were never written.

Legacy

In 1955, the Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera at Winterthur was named in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downs, Joseph 1895 births 1954 deaths People from Shutesbury, Massachusetts School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni American art curators American art educators American art historians United States Army personnel of World War I Directors of museums in the United States People associated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art People associated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art People associated with Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library