A. Hyatt Mayor

Alpheus Hyatt Mayor(1901–1980) was an Americanart historianand curator at theMetropolitan Museum of Art,a leading figure in the study of prints, bothold master printsandpopular prints.

Biography

Early life

A. Hyatt Mayor's father wasmarine biologistAlfred Goldsborough Mayor(1868–1922) and his mother was artist and sculptorHarriet Randolph Hyatt Mayor.His grandfather, whose name he carried, was the paleontologistAlpheus Hyatt.Mayor came from an artistic family; his mother's sister was the sculptorAnna Hyatt Huntington,and her husband was art patronArcher Milton Huntington,founder of theHispanic Society of Americain 1904.

Mayor received his B.A. fromPrinceton University(1922) and then received aRhodes scholarship,which he used to earn his second bachelor's degree atChrist Church, Oxfordin 1926. The next few years he spent inFlorence, Italyand at theAmerican School of Classical Studies.Upon returning to the United States he embarked on a literary career, working onHound & Horn.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

He married Virginia Sluder in 1932 and then joined the Department of Prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, becomingcuratorof the department in 1946. He had to follow the massive figure ofWilliam Ivins, Jr.,whose curatorship had lasted 30 years.

His tenure was marked by significant acquisitions ofengravings,woodcuts,and other printed material, some by then-unknown artists who proved later to be eminently collectible. Many European collections became available after World War II, and there were notable acquisitions, especially from the collection of thePrince of Lichtenstein.He also expanded which types of types of printedephemerawere considered worthy of collection to include postcards, baseball cards and advertisements. He accepted theJefferson Burdickcollection at the Met, which included 300,000 items of American prints and memorabilia.In 1952 he publishedPrints and People: A Social History of Printed Pictures,which has remained continuously in print.

Later life and publications

Mayor gave theA.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliographyin 1965.

In 1966 he retired from the Museum as curatoremeritusand directed his efforts to various art-related projects and writings, in particular his translation and updating of the catalogues ofMax Lehrsand the initiation, withAnthony Bluntand others, of the massive and still ongoingIllustratedBartschseries of print catalogues. In 1955 he had succeeded his uncle Archer as president of theHispanic Society of America,and he continued to serve until his death. He also served as a trustee of theAmerican Federation of Artsand ofBrookgreen GardensinSouth Carolina.He was awarded a Boston Museum Award in 1971.

Among other accolades he received, French poetSt. John Perseonce said that "Hyatt Mayor was the only American who spoke classic French in such a way thatDiderotorVoltairecould have taken him for a Frenchman, "andNew York Timescolumnist John Russell called him "one of the most remarkable men who ever held a curatorial post."

Mayor died of pneumonia in 1980.His granddaughter is actressYeardley Smith.

Sources

• A. Hyatt MayorinDictionary of Art Historians
• Cummings, Paul. "An Interview with A. Hyatt Mayor." Archives ofAmerican Art Journal18, no. 4 (1978): 2–19. Transcript available here[1].
• Russell, John. "An Ideal Curator Needs More than Just Expertise."New York Times,August 14, 1983. Available online here[2].

Further reading

• Hyatt Mayor, A. (1971).Prints & people: a social history of printed pictures.New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.ISBN9780870991080.

External links

• A. Hyatt Mayor Papersat Syracuse University – primary source material
• A. Hyatt Mayor papers, 1815-1980from The Archives of American Art.