Stewart E. Gregory (1913–1976) was an American collector of

folk art Folk art covers all forms of visual art made in the context of folk culture. Definitions vary, but generally the objects have practical utility of some kind, rather than being exclusively decorative. The makers of folk art are typically tr ...

. Gregory was descended from a family which had lived in Wilton,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

, for many generations. His interest in collecting antiques was sparked by his 1944 purchase of a

Guarneri The Guarneri (, , ), often referred to in the Latinized form Guarnerius, is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati a ...

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

. He received a bachelor's degree from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the n ...

in 1936, graduating from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1939. By trade he worked in the field of pharmaceuticals, retiring at the age of fifty. In building his collection, Gregory worked closely with

Mary Allis Mary Allis (March 2, 1899 – May 8, 1987) was an American dealer of art and antiques. Allis was born into a Cleveland family of modest means, and moved to New York in 1929 to begin a career in the field of interior design. In the mid-1940s she o ...

, from whom he purchased numerous pieces; he also purchase work from

Adele Earnest Adele Earnest (1901-1993) was an American folk art collector and historian, noted as an authority on wildfowl decoys. Early life Earnest was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, and attended Wellesley College. As a young woman, newly married, she l ...

; the Earnest-Gregory Dovetailed Goose, a

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lur ...

which both collectors owned, now bears their name. Eventually his collection came to contain, in addition to decoys,

weathervane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an instrument used for showing the direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ''vane'' comes from the Old English word , ...

s, hooked rugs, tinware, watercolors, and other items, among them portraits by John Brewster Jr.,

Erastus Salisbury Field Erastus Salisbury Field (May 19, 1805 in Leverett, Massachusetts – June 28, 1900 in Sunderland, Massachusetts) was an American folk art painter of portraits, landscapes, and history pictures. Erastus Field and his twin sister, Salome, were born ...

, and

Ammi Phillips Ammi Phillips (April 24, 1788 – July 11, 1865) was a prolific American itinerant portrait painter active from the mid 1810s to the early 1860s in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. His artwork is identified as folk art, primitive art, pr ...

. Chairman of the Wilton Historical Society, Gregory converted an eighteenth-century barn into a home where he could show off his pieces. He also collected memorabilia related to the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by state ...

. A vice president and trustee of the

American Folk Art Museum The American Folk Art Museum is an art museum in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, at 2, Lincoln Square, Columbus Avenue at 66th Street. It is the premier institution devoted to the aesthetic appreciation of folk art and creative expressions o ...

from 1964, in 1972 the museum exhibited his collection in the exhibit "An Eye on America: Folk Art from the Stewart E. Gregory Collection". After his death, in 1979, Gregory's collection was dispersed at auction, a moment that has been called a watershed in the field of American folk art collecting because of the prices realized and the interest engendered. Many of his pieces are currently in major American museum collections.

References

1913 births 1976 deaths American art collectors Princeton University alumni Harvard Law School alumni Businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Connecticut People from Wilton, Connecticut {{US-business-bio-1910s-stub