Peter Alexander Tomory (3 January 1922 – 25 March 2008) was a British

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 ...

museum 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 ...

and director.

Biography

Tomory was born in Hong Kong and educated in India and the UK. In 1940 he joined the Royal Navy and served for five and a half years, including patrols on the

Murmansk run The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

. After the War he undertook postgraduate study at

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. In 1950 he was appointed Assistant Curator of

York Art Gallery York Art Gallery is a public art gallery in York, England, with a collection of paintings from 14th-century to contemporary, prints, watercolours, drawings, and ceramics. It closed for major redevelopment in 2013, reopening in summer of 2015. T ...

under Hans Hess. In 1951 he curated the gallery's contribution to the 1951

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

, titled "Masterpieces from Yorkshire Houses". He was appointed director of the

Auckland City Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

, where he worked from 1956–65; an archive of his research, lecture notes and diaries from his time there is retained by the museum. Tomory worked with

Colin McCahon Colin John McCahon (; 1August 191927May 1987) was a prominent New Zealand artist whose work over 45 years consisted of various styles, including landscape, figuration, abstraction, and the overlay of painted text. Along with Toss Woollaston and ...

in the gallery to promote the institutional focus of the gallery towards historical and contemporary New Zealand art. He also founded a research journal in the gallery, the ''Gallery Quarterly''. The Auckland Art Gallery acquired 124 prints from Tomory's private collection in 2004. He left the art gallery in 1964 to take up a post in the newly formed Art History department of the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

. He left that post to teach at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admi ...

. He also worked as the Senior Curator of Baroque Art at the

John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is the official state art museum of Florida, located in Sarasota, Florida. It was established in 1927 as the legacy of Mable Burton Ringling and John Ringling for the people of Florida. Florida State Univ ...

. In 1972 he was appointed Professor of the History of Art at

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria an ...

where he worked for fifteen years. He was appointed a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australia ...

in 1974 and served on its council from 1984 to 1986. He was also a founding member of the Art Association of Australia. In 1987 he retired and returned to the UK.

Select publications

*1979. (with J H Füssli). ''The poetical circle: Fuseli and the British'' *1989. (with Robert Gaston) ''European paintings before 1800: in Australian and New Zealand public collections'' *1997. (with Anne Kirker). ''British Painting 1800–1990 in Australian and New Zealand Collections''. Sydney, Beagle Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomory, Peter British art curators 1922 births 2008 deaths Employees of York Art Gallery Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities Academic staff of La Trobe University Columbia University faculty Hunter College faculty Academic staff of the University of Auckland British expatriates in Hong Kong British people in colonial India British expatriates in New Zealand British expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Australia