Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with John Davis Hatch

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.hatch79
Creators:
Hatch, John Davis
Brown, Robert F.
Dates:
1979 Aug. 30-1980 Nov. 7
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
6 Sound tape reels
Sound recording
5 in.
307 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of John Davis Hatch conducted 1979 Aug. 30- 1980 Nov. 7, by Robert F. Brown for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Hatch recalls his childhood in California and training as a landscape architect, including an apprenticeship with Lockwood de Forest. He discusses his appointment as director of the Gallery of Fine Arts in Seattle at age 21 and his efforts there to develop an Asian focus for the museum and cultivate artists of the region, including Mark Tobey, Dudley Pratt, Kenneth Callahan, Emily Carr, Jose de Creeft, Frederick Varley, and Avard Fairbanks. He describes his interest in studying museums across the country and abroad and the roles played in the museum scene by the American Federation of Arts and the Museum Directors Association.
Scope and Contents
Hatch recalls his work as assistant director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and as director of government art projects in New England in the 1930s, when he worked with Edward Bruce, Oscar Bluemner, Charles Woodbury, John Wharf, and Laura Coombs Hills, among others. He describes an attempt to form the American Artists Depository, a precursor to the Archives of American Art, and his activities collecting American drawings, organizing travelling exhibitions, and promoting American art history as a discipline.
Scope and Contents
Hatch speaks of his tenure as director of the Albany Institute of History and Art and his efforts to advance an appreciation of local Dutch history and the work of Thomas Cole. He remembers encounters with Henry Francis Du Pont and Charles Franklin Montgomery. Hatch describes the start of his teaching career in Oregon and his involvement with local artists C.S. Price, Carl Morris, and Ludvik Durchanek. He talks about a stint as director of the Norfolk (Va.) Museum of Arts and Sciences and his work as a consultant to museums, especially as it pertained to the development of arts programs at black colleges in the South.
Scope and Contents
Hatch concludes with a discussion of museums near his home in Lenox, including the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute and the Berkshire Museum.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
John Hatch (1907-1996) was an art historian, collector, art consultant, and museum director.

Administration

Sponsor
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These interviews are 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.

Digital Content


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art, American Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum directors -- Interviews Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Art historians -- Massachusetts -- Interviews Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museums -- United States Function Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bruce, Edward, 1879-1943 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Bluemner, Oscar, 1867-1938 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Callahan, Kenneth, 1905-1986 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Carr, Emily, 1871-1945 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Creeft, José, 1884-1982 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
De Forest, Lockwood, 1850-1932 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Du Pont, Henry Francis, 1880-1969 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Durchanek, Ludvik, 1902- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Fairbanks, Avard T. (Avard Tennyson), 1897-1987 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Hills, Laura Coombs, 1859-1952 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Montgomery, Charles Franklin, 1910- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Morris, Carl, 1911-1993 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pratt, Dudley, 1897-1975 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Price, C. S. (Clayton S.), 1874-1950 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Tobey, Mark Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Varley, Frederick Horsman Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wharf, John Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Woodbury, Charles H. (Charles Herbert), 1864-1940 Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Albany Institute of History and Art Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Artists Depository Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
American Federation of Arts Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Berkshire Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gallery of Fine Arts (Seattle, Wash.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Museum Directors Association Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences (Va.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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