Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving (January 15, 1931 – December 10, 2009) was an American museum executive and consultant and the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Hoving was born in New York City to Walter Hoving, the head of Tiffany & Company, and his wife, Mary Osgood Field.
Thomas Hoving grew up surrounded by New York's upper social strata.
As recounted in his memoir, Making the Mummies Dance, these early experiences would be invaluable in his later dealings with the Met's donors and trustees.
After graduating from Hotchkiss School in 1949, Hoving received a B.A. in 1953, a M.F.A. in 1958, and a Ph.D. in 1959, all from Princeton University.
Hoving went to work for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1959, serving on the staff of the medieval department at The Cloisters until 1965, when he became curator of the department.
He left the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1966 to become New York Mayor John V. Lindsay's parks commissioner.
In 1967, Hoving returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, as director after the incumbent, James J. Rorimer, died suddenly on March 11, 1966.
He assumed the directorship on March 17, 1967 and presided over a massive expansion and renovation of the museum, successfully adding many important collections to its holdings.
Hoving left the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on June 30, 1977 to start an independent consulting firm for museums, Hoving Associates.
From 1978 to 1984 he was an arts correspondent for the ABC newsmagazine 20/20.
Hoving edited Connoisseur Magazine from 1981 to 1991.
Aong with his memoirs of his time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, he is also the author of books on a number of art-related subjects, including art forgeries, Grant Wood, Andrew Wyeth, Tutankhamen, and the 12th-century walrus ivory crucifix known as the Bury St. Edmunds Cross.
Additionally, in 1999, he wrote the text for the Art For Dummies book in the "...For Dummies" series.
Hoving appeared in Who the *$&% Is Jackson Pollock?, a documentary by Harry Moses about a purported "lost" Jackson Pollock painting, in which he, through a series of memorable interviews, claimed that true painting connoisseurs are the only ones who can identify the real from the fake (fingerprints and forensic evidence are secondary).
Hoving was the subject of the titular profile in A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles, a 1969 collection of biographical pieces by John McPhee.
Hoving died of lung cancer at his home in Manhattan, New York City on December 10, 2009.
Hoving's tenure at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was characterized by his distinctive approach to expanding the Met's collections.
Rather than build more comprehensive holdings of relatively modest works, he pursued a smaller number of what he termed "world-class" pieces, including the Euphronios krater depicting the death of Sarpedon (returned to Italy in 2008, now in Villa Giulia, Roma ), Velázquez's Portrait of [mulatto] Juan de Pareja, and the Temple of Dendur (or Din Din).'
The expansion of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, during Hoving's directorship was not confined to its collections.
Hoving also spearheaded a number of building projects and renovations of the Metropolitan Museum itself, from a controversial expansion of its galleries into Central Park to the construction of its underground parking garage.
Two of the building's most characteristic features — the huge exterior banners announcing current shows, and the broad plaza and steps leading from Fifth Avenue to the Met's entryway — are products of Hoving's tenure.
At one point, he even floated a plan to remove the Met's great staircase leading from the central lobby to the second-floor galleries.
That particular project remains unrealized.
References
- Randy Kennedy (December 11, 2009). "Thomas Hoving, Who Shook Up the Met, Dies at 78". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-09-17. "Thomas Hoving, the charismatic showman and treasure hunter whose tenure as director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1967 to 1977 fundamentally transformed the institution and helped usher in the era of the museum blockbuster show, died on Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 78."
- Hoving, Thomas. Artful Tom, A Memoir (Chapter 29). Artnet Magazine, June 10, 2009
- Hoving, Thoma. "My Eye," Artnet Magazine, July 20, 1999
- Kennedy, Randy. "Could Be a Pollock; Must Be a Yarn," The New York Times, Thursday, November 9, 2006
- Thomas Hoving, Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Simon & Schuster, 1993.
- Thomas Hoving, Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Simon & Schuster, 1993.
- Thomas Hoving, Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Simon & Schuster, 1993, pp. 156-163.
External links
Bibliography
- Watson, Peter (2007). The Medici Conspiracy. New York: Public Affairs.
- McPhee, John (1969). A Roomful of Hovings. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Hoving, Thomas (1993). Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Simon and Schuster
- Hoving, Thomas (1997). False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81134-0.
- Hoving, Thomas. King of the Confessors. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1981.
- Hoving, Thomas. King of the Confessors: A New Appraisal. cybereditions.com: Christchurch, NZ, 2001.
- "Outdoorsman of the Big City," Life (magazine), April 29, 1966.
| Cultural offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James J. Rorimer |  Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 1967–1977 | Succeeded by Philippe de Montebello |
Categories:
- 1931 births
- 2009 deaths
- American curators
- Cancer deaths in New York
- Deaths from lung cancer
- Directors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- People from Manhattan
- Princeton University alumni
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