Howard McParlin Davis
Encyclopedia
Howard McParlin Davis was a longtime professor of Art History at Columbia University
. "His classes in Italian Renaissance painting and on Northern European painting were among the most popular undergraduate courses at Columbia," and thanks to him, "[g]enerations of Columbia College students graduated with an especially deep appreciation of the art of Giotto and of Jan van Eyck
."
Born in Baltimore, Davis graduated from Princeton in 1936 (double major in French language, French literature). Thanks to a Carnegie Fellowship, he studied at the Institut d'Art et d'Archèologie (Paris) in the summer of 1937. A Belgian-American Educational Foundation Fellowship enabled him to study in Brussels in 1938. In 1939 he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in art history, again from Princeton. With a Fulbright Senior Research Grant he spent 1950-51 in Italy researching Gian Lorenzo Bernini
.
Before the end of his graduate studies, he had found employment at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in New York, first in medieval art and then in prints. His teaching career began in 1942 at Hunter College
(NY); he moved to Columbia in 1944 and stayed there until he hit its mandatory retirement age of 70. He was chairman of the department of art history and archaeology from 1969 to 1972 and was named Moore Collegiate Professor of Art History in 1980.
The product of a more genteel era, Davis disdained the modern focus on publication. Nonetheless, his "Fantasy and Irony in Pieter Bruegel's Prints" (1943), "Gravity in the Paintings of Giotto" (1971), and "Bees on the Tomb of Urban VIII" (1989) provided significant insights. It was as a teacher, rather than a scholar, that he gained his fame, however. He earned awards over the years, notably Columbia's Mark Van Doren
Award in 1968, the Great Teacher Award of the Society of Older Graduates of Columbia in 1970, and the College Art Association of America's award for Distinguished Teaching of Art History in 1984. An accolade of another sort was his portrayal in Charles Kuralt
's America.
Davis died of heart disease just nine days short of his 80th birthday. His only child, Alison McParlin Davis-Murphy, is a writer, photographer, and guitarist living in Los Angeles.
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. "His classes in Italian Renaissance painting and on Northern European painting were among the most popular undergraduate courses at Columbia," and thanks to him, "[g]enerations of Columbia College students graduated with an especially deep appreciation of the art of Giotto and of Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a Flemish painter active in Bruges and considered one of the best Northern European painters of the 15th century....
."
Born in Baltimore, Davis graduated from Princeton in 1936 (double major in French language, French literature). Thanks to a Carnegie Fellowship, he studied at the Institut d'Art et d'Archèologie (Paris) in the summer of 1937. A Belgian-American Educational Foundation Fellowship enabled him to study in Brussels in 1938. In 1939 he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in art history, again from Princeton. With a Fulbright Senior Research Grant he spent 1950-51 in Italy researching Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini
Gian Lorenzo Bernini was an Italian artist who worked principally in Rome. He was the leading sculptor of his age and also a prominent architect...
.
Before the end of his graduate studies, he had found employment at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York, first in medieval art and then in prints. His teaching career began in 1942 at Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
(NY); he moved to Columbia in 1944 and stayed there until he hit its mandatory retirement age of 70. He was chairman of the department of art history and archaeology from 1969 to 1972 and was named Moore Collegiate Professor of Art History in 1980.
The product of a more genteel era, Davis disdained the modern focus on publication. Nonetheless, his "Fantasy and Irony in Pieter Bruegel's Prints" (1943), "Gravity in the Paintings of Giotto" (1971), and "Bees on the Tomb of Urban VIII" (1989) provided significant insights. It was as a teacher, rather than a scholar, that he gained his fame, however. He earned awards over the years, notably Columbia's Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren
Mark Van Doren was an American poet, writer and a critic, apart from being a scholar and a professor of English at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, where he inspired a generation of influential writers and thinkers including Thomas Merton, Robert Lax, John Berryman, and Beat Generation...
Award in 1968, the Great Teacher Award of the Society of Older Graduates of Columbia in 1970, and the College Art Association of America's award for Distinguished Teaching of Art History in 1984. An accolade of another sort was his portrayal in Charles Kuralt
Charles Kuralt
Charles Kuralt was an American journalist. He was most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and later as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, a position he held for fifteen years.Kuralt's "On the Road"...
's America.
Davis died of heart disease just nine days short of his 80th birthday. His only child, Alison McParlin Davis-Murphy, is a writer, photographer, and guitarist living in Los Angeles.