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Interviewee:
Hatch, John Davis  Search this
Interviewer:
Brown, Robert F.  Search this
Names:
Albany Institute of History and Art  Search this
American Artists Depository  Search this
American Federation of Arts  Search this
Berkshire Museum  Search this
Gallery of Fine Arts (Seattle, Wash.)  Search this
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum  Search this
Museum Directors Association  Search this
Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences (Va.)  Search this
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute  Search this
Bluemner, Oscar, 1867-1938  Search this
Bruce, Edward, 1879-1943  Search this
Callahan, Kenneth, 1905-1986  Search this
Carr, Emily, 1871-1945  Search this
De Creeft, José, 1884-1982  Search this
De Forest, Lockwood, 1850-1932  Search this
Du Pont, Henry Francis, 1880-1969  Search this
Durchanek, Ludvik, 1902-  Search this
Fairbanks, Avard T. (Avard Tennyson), 1897-1987  Search this
Hills, Laura Coombs, 1859-1952  Search this
Montgomery, Charles Franklin, 1910-  Search this
Morris, Carl, 1911-1993  Search this
Pratt, Dudley, 1897-1975  Search this
Price, C. S. (Clayton S.), 1874-1950  Search this
Tobey, Mark  Search this
Varley, Frederick Horsman  Search this
Wharf, John  Search this
Woodbury, Charles H. (Charles Herbert), 1864-1940  Search this
Extent:
6 Sound tape reels (Sound recording, 5 in.)
307 Pages (Transcript)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Sound tape reels
Pages
Sound recordings
Interviews
Date:
1979 Aug. 30-1980 Nov. 7
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
John Hatch (1907-1996) was an art historian, collector, art consultant, and museum director.
Provenance:
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.
Occupation:
Art historians -- Massachusetts -- Interviews  Search this
Topic:
Art, American  Search this
Art -- Collectors and collecting -- Interviews  Search this
Museum directors -- Interviews  Search this
Function:
Museums -- United States
Genre/Form:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Identifier:
AAA.hatch79
Archival Repository:
Archives of American Art
GUID:
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/mw97e7d823e-b92a-4502-84d2-740fa8e18942
EDAN-URL:
ead_collection:sova-aaa-hatch79