Stuart Cary Welch Jr, curator emeritus of Islamic and later Indian art at the Harvard Art Museum and former special consultant in charge, department of Islamic art, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, died on August 13, while traveling in Hokkaido, Japan. He was 80 years old.
Welch, a legendary scholar, collector and connoisseur, studied and taught at Harvard, where he was instrumental in transforming the department of Islamic art, establishing a curriculum of study of the arts of the Middle East and South Asia, and developing one of the finest collections of Islamic and later Indian art in this country. His lifelong association with Harvard culminated in his role as of one of the most generous donors to the Harvard Art Museum.
“The contributions made by Stuart Cary Welch to Harvard are immeasurable and reflect a life dedicated to the appreciation, study and sharing of the works of art that he loved,” said Thomas W. Lentz, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot director of the Harvard Art Museum, who studied with Welch at Harvard.
“Cary was enormously energetic and prolific. He was simply a towering figure in the fields of Islamic and Indian art,” said Mary A. McWilliams, the Norma Jean Calderwood curator of Islamic and later Indian art at the Harvard Art Museum.
Welch was a graduate of the St Paul’s School in Concord, N.H., in 1946, when began his undergraduate studies in fine arts at Harvard. He continued his graduate work in classical art from 1952 to 1954. During that time, Welch intensified his study and collecting of Islamic and Indian art.
While there were no classes or formal instruction available in the subject of Islamic or Indian art, Welch took the initiative to devise his own “course of study” by traveling extensively throughout the Middle East and South Asia to absorb regional traditions and culture and to witness firsthand the lands that captivated him. At the same time, Eric Schroeder, then honorary keeper of Islamic art at the Fogg Museum, became his mentor at Harvard.
In 1956, Schroeder invited Welch to become honorary assistant keeper of Islamic art at the Fogg, and thus began an era that saw Welch use his infinite enthusiasm to transform the fledgling department of Islamic art. As part of the vanguard of Islamic art scholars at Harvard, he spearheaded the effort to establish one of the first American university curriculums in the study of the arts of the Islamic world. In 1960, he taught the first class at Harvard in Near Eastern art. An instructor for 25 years at Harvard, Welch was a teacher and mentor to many distinguished museum leaders and scholars, including Lentz; Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art; and Michael Brand, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Over four decades at Harvard, Welch served as honorary keeper, curator (retiring in 1995) and finally curator emeritus. Welsh was also instrumental in making many important acquisitions that enhanced the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, and, in 1985, organized the groundbreaking exhibition, “India: Art and Culture, 1300‱900,” a comprehensive presentation of more than 300 works including masterpieces of the sacred and court traditions that ranks among his greatest achievements as a curator.
Welch’s scholarship served as the foundation for many important exhibitions, including “The Art of Mughal India, Paintings and Precious Objects” (Asia Society, 1964), the first important American exhibition devoted to Mughal art; “Gods, Thrones, and Peacocks” (Asia Society, 1965); “Wonders of the Age” (British Museum, National Gallery of Art, Harvard Art Museum, 1979‸0); “Gods, Kings, and Tigers: The Art of Kotah” (Asia Society, Harvard Art Museum, Rietberg Museum, 1997‹8); and “From Mind, Heart and Hand: Persian, Turkish and Indian Drawings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection” (The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Harvard Art Museum, 2004‰5), an exhibition of drawings from Welch’s landmark gift to Harvard in 1999 of more than 300 works.
Welch produced countless exhibitions over the 40 years he spent at Harvard, which always tended toward the visual and poetic. His last exhibition was the first in a series entitled “Perspectives” that is part of the long-term exhibition “Re-View at the Harvard Art Museum/Arthur M. Sackler Museum.” The small installation, titled “Tree of Life: Five Indian Variations on a Theme,” includes just five works of art but is characteristic of Welch’s vision and approach.
Considered his greatest scholarly achievement is the immense, two-volume study of The Houghton Shahnameh, coauthored with Martin B. Dickson of Princeton University.
Stuart Cary Welch Jr, is survived by his wife of 54 years, Edith Welch, his four children and four grandchildren. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Harvard Art Museum, Attn: Department of Institutional Advancement, 32 Quincy Street, Cambridge MA 02138; or St Paul’s School, 325 Pleasant Street, Concord NH 03301.
A memorial service is being planned at Harvard. Details on location and date are not yet confirmed.
