Ralph Hyde (25 March 1939 – 5 June 2015
) was a curator of
graphic arts
A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional graphics, i.e. produced on a flat surface,[Guildhall Library
The Guildhall Library is a public reference library in London, England, specialising in subjects relevant to London and its history. It is administered by the Corporation of London, the government of the City of London, which is the historical ...]
in London, a pre-eminent historian and writer on the subject of
Panoramic painting
Panoramic paintings are massive artworks that reveal a wide, Panorama, all-encompassing view of a particular subject, often a landscape, military battle, or historical event. They became especially popular in the 19th century in Europe and the Un ...
. On his retirement he lived for a time in France but returned to London to continue as an active scholar in the field. In addition to having curated the Panoramania exhibition at the
Barbican, he co-authored with
Felix Barker the richly illustrated book ''London As It Might Have Been,'' which illustrates numerous planned, but never built, fanciful structures in London. He was a member of the International Panorama Council, and at the time of his death was compiling a Dictionary of Panoramists.
References
* ''The Panorama: History of a Mass Medium'' (book review). ''Technology and Culture'': 40.4 (1999), pp. 900–901
* ''London as it Might Have Been'' (written with
Felix Barker). London: John Murray, 1982
* ''Panoramania! The Art and Entertainment of the All-Embracing View'' introduction by Scott B. Wilcox. London: Trefoil Publications in association with the Barbican Art Gallery, 1988
* ''London in Paintings'', London: Guildhall Art Gallery 1999
* ''Myrioramas, Endless Landscapes: The Story of a Craze'',
Print Quarterly, December 2004, XXI
* ''Paper Peepshows: The Jacqueline & Jonathan Gestetner Collection.'' London: Antique Collectors' Club, 2015
1939 births
2015 deaths
British art historians
British curators
Historians of cartography
20th-century British historians
20th-century British male writers
21st-century British historians
21st-century British male writers
British male non-fiction writers
{{UK-art-historian-stub