An interview of Daniel Varney Thompson conducted 1974 September 25-1976 November 2, by Robert F. Brown, for the Archives of American Art.
Thompson speaks of authenticating a painting by Leonardo Da Vinci; teaching at Harvard University with Edward Waldo Forbes; his 1923-1925 expedition to India and China with Langdon Warner and Fogg Art Museum personnel to study cave paintings; setting up the art history department at Yale with Everett Meeks and teaching tempera painting; his studies in Europe and work at the Courtauld Institute in London; and translating manuscripts dealing with medieval painting techniques and media. He recalls Bernard Berenson and William Mills Ivins.
Biographical / Historical:
Daniel V. Thompson (1902-1980) was an art historian, conservator, professor, and chemist engineer. Thompson studied techniques of medieval and Renaissance painting. He was a professor at the Courtald Institute, London, 1938-1947.
General:
Originally recorded on 4 sound tape reels. Reformatted in 2010 as 7 digital wav files. Duration is 6 hr., 55 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives' Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and others.
Restrictions:
Transcript is available on the Archives of American Art's website.
Letters, 1887-1935, a scrapbook, 1925-1951, clippings, art works, and photographs, 1883-1957.
REEL 3828: A photograph by Dr. Charles Putnam of James sitting on his father's (psychologist William James) lap, ca. 1886.
REEL 4392: Twelve letters, from James to his brother Henry and his parents, 1887-1935, and a letter from Abbott Handerson Thayer regarding a pair of boots James ordered, 1904; a scrapbook containing clippings, 1925-1951, an exhibition catalog, 1929, and photographs of James, his brother Alec (Alexander Robertson), and his works of art; 4 clippings, undated and 1950; 2 self-portrait sketches, a portrait sketch of a woman, and a drawing of James by Jane deGlehn; photographs of James, his family, including one of an obscured pose by his uncle Henry James, his friends, including Langdon Warner, 1883-1957, and Elizabeth Boott Duveneck; photographs of portrait paintings of James' ancestors, including Catherine Barber James, Marcia Ames James, William James of Albany, and Reverend William James; and 23 photographs of James' works of art.
Biographical / Historical:
Portrait painter, instructor; Cambridge, Mass. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Son of psychologist William James (1842-1910), brother of portrait painter Alexander Robertson James, and nephew of novelist Henry James. Pupil of Benson and Tarbell and teacher at Boston Museum of Fine Arts School, 1913-1926.
Provenance:
Donated 1986 and 1987 by William James III, the son of William James, except for the photograph on reel 3828, which was lent for microfilming.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment and is limited to the Archives' Washington, D.C., Research Center. Microfilmed materials must be consulted on microfilm. Contact Reference Services for more information.
The John Alexander Pope papers contain limited biographical, personal and professional information. The bulk of the collection consists of published and unpublished writings, research materials and correspondence.
Arrangement note:
The collection is arranged into six major series. A seventh series inventories outsize materials contained in the other series.
Series 1: Biographic Material
Subseries 1.1: Academic and Professional Life
Subseries 1.2: Personal and Official Photographs of Pope, Family and Colleagues
Series 2: John A. Pope Asian Ceramics and Art Collection
Series 3: Published and Unpublished Materials
Subseries 3.1: Articles, Lectures and Manuscripts
Subseries 3.2: Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine: Research Materials and Publication Correspondence
Series 4: Research Material: Subject Files
Subseries: 4.1: Asian Art and Ceramics: Background Material
Subseries 4.2: Chinese Ceramics
Subseries 4.3: Chinese Ceramics and the Porcelain Trade
Subseries 4.4: Japanese and Korean Ceramics
Series 5: Travel
Subseries 5.1: Itineraries, Expenses and Notes
Subseries 5.2: Photographs, Negatives and Slides
Series 6: Correspondence
Series 7: Inventory of Outsize Materials
Biographical/Historical note:
John Alexander Pope was a renowned scholar and authority on Asian art, especially Chinese and Japanese ceramics. He spent most of his professional career at the Freer Gallery of Art, which he joined in 1943 as an Associate in Research. He later served as Assistant Director (1946 to 1962) and then as Director (1962 to 1971). After his retirement in 1971, he continued at the Freer as Director Emeritus and Research Curator for Far Eastern Ceramics.
Pope was born in Detroit, Michigan on August 4, 1906 and died in Washington D.C. on September 18, 1982. He obtained a Bachelor's degree in English literature from Yale College. In 1929, prior to graduation, he joined the China International Famine Relief Commission sent to survey famine conditions in the Yellow River valley. As a truck driver for the Commission, he travelled throughout north China giving him an unparalleled chance to see the land and people at first hand. In Beijing, he met and spent time with Alan Priest, later curator of Far Eastern Ceramics at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In a 1972 letter, Pope recalled his time with Priest in 1929 as "the most important factor in my subsequent decision to go into the field." From 1934 to 1941 he was a graduate student at Harvard University, studying Chinese and Japanese languages and the history, archaeology and art of these countries. He spent 1938 as a Travelling Fellow of the Harvard-Yenching Institute studying Chinese archaeology at the University of London; he also travelled to Stockholm, Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin to study museum and private ceramic collections. Harvard awarded him an M.A. degree in 1940 and a Ph. D. in 1955.
From 1945 to 1946, on leave of absence from the Freer, Pope served as a Captain in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve posted to Tianjin, China as a Chinese language interpreter. He travelled frequently to Beijing, spending time with Jean Pierre Dubosc and other Chinese art connoisseurs. In introductory notes to a 1979 lecture he recalled that on one of these Beijing trips he made his "first purchase of blue-and-white." Thus began of a life-long interest in Chinese blue-and-white porcelain in general and establishing criteria and a methodology for dating and stylistic analysis of 14th and 15th century blue-and-white in particular. His publications included analysis of important collections of Chinese ceramics, for example those at the Topkapi Sarayi in Istanbul and at the Ardabil Shrine in Iran. Many of his lectures, articles and research trips focused on Chinese trade ceramics, not only in European collections but also from Asian shipwrecks and at sites ranging from East Africa to The Philippines.
Pope made his first trip to Japan in 1956. In his 1979 notes he wrote: "My visit to Karatsu and meeting with the Nakazato family started my serious interest in Japanese ceramics." He made many trips to Japan beginning in the late 1960s, often spending several months at a time visiting important kiln sites and Japanese potters as well as collectors. His research emphasis gradually shifted to Japanese porcelain and the issues of dating and identifying kiln sites and wares. At the time of his death he was researching a book on Japanese porcelain.
Over time Pope created a substantial personal collection of Chinese and Japanese ceramics. He developed an extensive network of connoisseurs, dealers and scholars. He travelled frequently, visiting public and private collections, attending various symposia, and meeting with a wide range of colleagues involved in the world of Asian ceramics. He belonged to many professional associations and served as advisor or board member for several museums and academic institutions.
Related Material:
James Cahill Papers
Prince Aschwin Lippe Papers
SIA Acc, 03-018, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery,
Central Files, 1919-1986
Freer Gallery Study Collection, ceramic shards donated by John Alexander Pope, see http://www.open.asia.si.edu search John Pope.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
This series contains Bishop's unpublished typed manuscript entitled Archaeological Research in China 1923-1934—Washington, D.C.: Freer Gallery of Art, [n.d.] 2v. : some ill.; 27cm., a field report that chronicled the two Gallery-sponsored expeditions; various drafts and research notes in Box 2, which are organized according to their original order from their envelopes and notecards based on subject.
The papers concern Bishop's Gallery-sponsored travels to China, 1923 to 1927 and from 1929-1934, while acting as Associate Curator at the Freer Gallery of Art. The collection includes a large collection of still prints and maps.The earliest still photographic prints in the Bishop Papers date from his employ at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, where he conducted archaeological reconnaissance from 1915 to 1918 in China, Korea, and Japan. All subsequent images were created or collected by Bishop and his assistant Kwang-zung Tung during the Freer Gallery-sponsored expeditions of 1923-1934. This selection of digitized prints showcase prints which are not reflected in the Bishop manuscript or the photograph books. These selected images include place views of various excavations that featured prominently in the Bishop manuscript as well as the writings of A.G. Wenley and Dr Li Chi, who accompanied Bishop during his archaeological excavations in China. These include place views of Shansi, Shensi, Hsi-yin-Ts'un, Yu Ho Chen, Yun Kang and Peitaiho. In addition, images from Bishop's photographs of Mongolia, Manchuria and Nanjing, which are focused less on the excavation activities and depict more of the social and physical landscape of the areas Bishop visited, were chosen to reflect the comprehensive nature of Bishop's still print collection.
This series contains Bishop's unpublished typed manuscript entitled Archaeological Research in China 1923-1934. it is a field report that chronicled the two Freer Sackler Gallery sponsored expeditions. There are various drafts and research notes in box two.
Carl Whiting Bishop, Series 1: Manuscript and Research Material
Biographical / Historical:
Carl Whiting Bishop was an Associate Curator and Associate in Archaeology at the Freer Gallery of Art from 1922 to 1942.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.02 1
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
This series contains images from Bishop's travels on different media. There are small amounts of oversize photos, line drawings, rubbings and maps, and a few collected photo postcards, 1915-1933. The bulk of this series consists of original, undated silver prints (nearly three-quarters have corresponding glass and film negatives in Series 4). The nearly 3,000 images were arranged and indexed by Bishop into subject headings using a decimal system. These may have been captioned with date, description, location, and negative number. Most of the photographs were taken, and in large part developed, by Bishop and his assistant Kwang-zung Tung, under rough-and-ready field conditions.
The earliest photos are from Bishop's archaeological reconnaissance in China, Korea, and Japan during 1915-1918, for the University of Pennsylvania Museum of the University of Pennsylvania. The majority of the images document FGA sponsored expeditions to China during 1923-1934. Specific digs are shown, including the American, Japanese, and Chinese archaeologists and laborers who worked on the excavations; Chinese cityscapes, villages, landscapes, waterscapes, general scenes, transportation modes, courtyards, pagodas, palaces, temples, the T'ien-lung Shan Buddhist caves, bronzes, ceramics, et al.; and also a few sites in Hong Kong, Mongolia, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. Postcards depict the peoples of Korea, and civil war scenes around Beijing.
Numeric List and Subject Index to Bishop Still Photo Prints (Box 15-21): Note: Still prints in Box 15-21 have been arranged numerically according to Bishop's decimal system. For additional caption information, see the Subject Index that follows the Numeric List. The Subject Index was compiled by Sarah Newmeyer.
The papers concern Bishop's Gallery-sponsored travels to China, 1923 to 1927 and from 1929-1934, while acting as Associate Curator at the Freer Gallery of Art. The collection includes a large collection of still prints and maps.The earliest still photographic prints in the Bishop Papers date from his employ at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, where he conducted archaeological reconnaissance from 1915 to 1918 in China, Korea, and Japan. All subsequent images were created or collected by Bishop and his assistant Kwang-zung Tung during the Freer Gallery-sponsored expeditions of 1923-1934. This selection of digitized prints showcase prints which are not reflected in the Bishop manuscript or the photograph books. These selected images include place views of various excavations that featured prominently in the Bishop manuscript as well as the writings of A.G. Wenley and Dr Li Chi, who accompanied Bishop during his archaeological excavations in China. These include place views of Shansi, Shensi, Hsi-yin-Ts'un, Yu Ho Chen, Yun Kang and Peitaiho. In addition, images from Bishop's photographs of Mongolia, Manchuria and Nanjing, which are focused less on the excavation activities and depict more of the social and physical landscape of the areas Bishop visited, were chosen to reflect the comprehensive nature of Bishop's still print collection.
Carl Whiting Bishop, Series 2: Photography Prints
Arrangement:
This is a miscellaneous selection of still prints which are part of the Bishop collection, Series 2: Prints and Maps, 1915-1933.
Biographical / Historical:
Carl Whiting Bishop was an Associate Curator and Associate in Archaeology at the Freer Gallery of Art from 1922 to 1942.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.02 2
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.
This subseries contains a draft copy of Bishop's Archaeological Research in China (1923-1934) manuscript. There are various edits and comments throughout the draft copy. There are also various plate, figures, and maps that Bishop intended to include with the article.
This unpublished manuscript constituted a field report that chronicled Bishop's Gallery-sponsored expeditions in northern and central China during the period 1923 to 1934. The reader is provided with a record of the day-to-day operations completed, of obstacles and opposition encountered, and the results obtained from their work. Key diplomatic and scientific representatives from the West and China are recorded who aided and contributed to the investigations. Moreover, there are descriptions of the academic, social and political climate in China during a period of civil war and economic strife. Against this background, Bishop also discussed their efforts in view of the history of China, with commentary on the country's geography, topography, climate, flora and fauna, mineral products, and ancient customs and legends.The manuscript consists of an introduction, 19 numbered chapters, 3 appendices and a series of plates and figures related to his text.
Archaeological Research in China (manuscript)
Biographical / Historical:
Carl Whiting Bishop was an Associate Curator and Associate in Archaeology at the Freer Gallery of Art from 1922 to 1942.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.02 1.01.01
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to reproduce and publish an item from the Archives is coordinated through the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's Rights and Reproductions department. Please contact the Archives in order to initiate this process.