Guy Clinton McElroy (1946 – May 31, 1990) was an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

art historian Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

and

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

. Most notably, McElroy curated the major exhibition titled '' Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940''. He died during the run of the show in 1990.

Career

Born to George and Geraldine Woods, McElroy was born and raised in Fairmont. He earned a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the local

Fairmont State College Fairmont State University is a public university in Fairmont, West Virginia. History Fairmont State University’s roots reach back to the formation of public education in the state of West Virginia. The first private normal school in West Vir ...

in 1970. McElroy then received two

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degrees: one from the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

in 1972, and another of

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California and Well, Limburg, Netherlands ( Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a ...

Communications Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...

in 1975. At Cincinnati, he wrote a master's thesis on the artist

Robert S. Duncanson Robert Seldon Duncanson (1821 – December 21, 1872) was a 19th-century American landscape painting, landscapist of European and African ancestry. Inspired by famous American landscape artists like Thomas Cole, Duncanson created renowned landsca ...

, supervised by

Gabriel P. Weisberg Gabriel Paul Weisberg Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, OAL is an American art historian and educator. Weisberg is Professor of Art History Emeritus at the University of Minnesota. Career A native of New York City, Weisberg received a Bachelor of ...

. While at Emerson, he wrote a thesis on the

Roxbury Conglomerate The Roxbury Conglomerate, also informally known as Roxbury puddingstone, is a name for a rock formation that forms the bedrock underlying most of Roxbury, Massachusetts, now part of the city of Boston. The bedrock formation extends well beyond t ...

and had a stint as a Rockefeller Fellow in Museum Studies at the

Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), comprising the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, is the largest public arts institution in the city of San Francisco. The permanent collection of the ...

. Between 1976 and 1980, he pursued a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in Art History from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, but later transferred to the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1983. McElroy did not complete the degree before his death in 1990. McElroy began his curatorial career in 1972 as Assistant Curator at the

Utah Museum of Fine Arts The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is the region's primary resource for culture and visual arts. It is located in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building in Salt Lake City, Utah on the University of Utah campus near Rice-Eccles Stadium. Works ...

, and then in the same position at the Museum of African American History in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, starting in 1974. Four years later, he served as Curator of the

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site The Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Historic Site preserves the house of Mary McLeod Bethune, located in Northwest Washington, D.C., at 1318 Vermont Avenue NW. National Park Service rangers offer tours of the home, and a video about B ...

, later being promoted to assistant director from 1982 to 1988. In 1986, McElroy was also hired as Adjunct Curator at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

. A year later, after an automobile accident in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, he became a

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or t ...

and began using a

wheelchair A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...

. McElroy continued to work there until 1989, and completed the major exhibition titled '' Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940'', which toured in 1990 at the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

and the Brooklyn Museum. Unfortunately, he died as a result of

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an pulmonary artery, artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream (embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include dyspnea, shortness of breath, chest pain p ...

while the exhibition was on view in Brooklyn. Before his death, he was slated to become assistant professor of art history at the University of Maryland. The

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

holds an archive of McElroy's papers, dating from 1969 until his death.

Works

*''Black Women Visual Artists in Washington, D.C.'', Bethune Museum-Archives, 1986 *''African-American Artists, 1880-1987: Selections from the Evans-Tibbs Collection'', with Richard J. Powell and Sharon F. Patton, University of Washington Press, 1989 *'' Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940'', Bedford Arts, 1990

References

External links

Dictionary of Art Historians profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McElroy, Guy 1946 births 1990 deaths People from Fairmont, West Virginia Fairmont State University alumni University of Cincinnati alumni Emerson College alumni 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American historians African-American historians American art curators American art historians American gay writers Brooklyn Museum People with tetraplegia Respiratory disease deaths in New York (state) Deaths from pulmonary embolism

Career

Works

See also

References

External links