John Alexander Pope (4 August 1906 – 18 September 1982) was a prominent scholar of Asian art, particularly Chinese and Japanese blue-and-white ceramics. He spent most of his career at the

Freer Gallery of Art The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sac ...

in Washington. John Alexander Pope 1927

Pope was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy until 1925, and then Yale College, where he attained a bachelor's degree in English literature 1930. Before graduation he was active in the

China International Famine Relief Commission The China International Famine Relief Commission (CIFRC) was an organization dedicated to famine relief efforts in early 20th century China. The organization was founded on November 16, 1921. See also * Robert Jacquinot de Besange * John Alexan ...

. While serving in the commission, he was sent to the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

valley where he surveyed famine conditions. This allowed him to see China firsthand and also to meet Alan Priest, who would later become the curator of Far Eastern ceramics at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. Pope later attributed meeting Priest in Beijing as the most influential factor in determining his eventual, life-long field of study of blue-and-white Asian porcelains. Returning to the United States in 1930, he worked for two years at the Chase National Bank in New York. In 1932 he began work in Chinese studies at Harvard University leading to master's and doctoral degrees. Pope pursued graduate studies at Harvard where he studied the history, archaeology, and languages of China and Japan. In 1938 he studied for one term at the

Courtauld Institute The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

in London and in 1942 lectured on Chinese art at Columbia University. He was awarded his master's degree in 1940 and PhD in 1955. Pope took a leave from his studies in 1945 through 1946 to serve in the

Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...

. With the rank of captain, he served with Corps in China as a Chinese language translator. Pope joined the Freer in 1943 and worked as an associate in research. From 1946 he was hired as the assistant director and served in that position until 1962, when he became the museum's director. Pope's deep interest in the Asian porcelains ceramics prompted him to establish criteria and a methodology for stylistic and dating analysis of 14th and 15th blue-and-white porcelains. Beginning in the 1960s, Pope took many trips to Japan, which resulted in his research slowly shifting to the study of Japanese ceramics. Pope retired in 1971 while continuing at the Freer as the director emeritus of research coordinator for Far Eastern ceramics. He married Annemarie (Henle) Pope (Dortmund 1907–2001 Washington) in 1947. A bibliography of his publications appeared in the ''Archives of Asian Art'' 36 (1983).

References

1906 births 1982 deaths American art historians Directors of museums in the United States Yale College alumni Harvard University alumni {{US-artist-stub