Stuart Cary Welch

Stuart Cary Welch Jr. (2 April 1928 – 13 August 2008) was an American scholar and curator of Indian and Islamic art.

Life and career

Welch was born to a prominent family in Buffalo, New York. He began collecting drawings by Indian artists as a boy. He earned a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Harvard University in 1950, then did graduate work there in classical art. Because they offered no Indian or Islamic art courses at the time, he became an autodidact.

His first paid position at Harvard was in 1956, as honorary assistant keeper of Islamic Art at the Fogg Museum. He later developed one of the first curricula for Islamic and Indian art. He was curator of Islamic and Later Indian art at the Harvard Art Museum, and from 1979 to 1987, he was also special consultant for the department of Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.Raynor, Vivien (December 21, 1979). Art People; Expert on India gets Met post."New York Times"] Welch taught at Harvard until his retirement in 1995, and he donated much of his collection to the school.McQuaid, Cate (November 19, 1999). Ex-curator donates 300 works to Harvard. "Boston Globe"] A resident of New Hampshire, Welch died of a heart attack while traveling in Hokkaido, Japan.Fox, Margalit (September 10, 2008). [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/arts/design/10welch.html Stuart Cary Welch, Scholar and Collector of Islamic and Indian art, Dies at 80.] "New York Times"]

elected publications

*"Room for Wonder: Indian Painting During the British Period, 1760-1880." American Federation of Arts, 1978
*"Imperial Mughal Painting." Braziller, 1978
*"The Houghton Shahnameh" (with Martin Bernard Dickson). Harvard University, 1981

References