William Harvey Pierson Jr. (June 4, 1911 – December 3, 2008) was an American

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

and

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 ...

. Teaching studio art and art history at Williams College for most of his career, Pierson was in large part responsible for the development of the cadre of Williams-educated museum curators and art historians now known as the Williams Art Mafia, including

Earl A. Powell III Earl Alexander Powell III (born October 24, 1943),"E ...

of the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

in Washington DC,

Glenn D. Lowry Glenn David Lowry (born September 28, 1954) is an American art historian and director of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City since 1995. His initiatives there include strengthening MoMA's contemporary art program, significantly devel ...

of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York,

James N. Wood James Nowell Wood (March 20, 1941 – June 11, 2010) was an American museum director who spent 25 years as head of the Art Institute of Chicago and later served as head of the J. Paul Getty Trust, starting in 2006. Biography Wood was born in ...

of the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

and the

J. Paul Getty Trust The J. Paul Getty Trust is the world's wealthiest art institution, with an estimated endowment of US$7.7 billion in 2020. Based in Los Angeles, California, it operates the J. Paul Getty Museum, which has two locations—the Getty Center in the ...

and

Thomas Krens Thomas Krens (born December 26, 1946) is the former director and Senior Advisor for International Affairs of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York City.''The New York Times'' staff.Guggenheim Foundation staff From the beginning of his w ...

of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Born in

Bloomfield, New Jersey Bloomfield is a township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the township's population was 53,105. It surrounds the Bloomfield Green Historic District. History The initial patent for the land that w ...

, Pierson trained as a high-school student with

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

Charles Warren Eaton Charles Warren Eaton (1857–1937) was an American artist best known for his tonalist landscapes. He earned the nickname "the pine tree painter" for his numerous depictions of Eastern White Pine trees. Youth Eaton was born in Albany, New York, ...

. After earning

bachelor’s degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six y ...

in fine arts at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1934, he became the first person whom the school awarded a master's degree in fine arts. In 1941 he received a second master's, this time in art history from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. Pierson joined the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

the day after

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Re ...

, working for the secret radio program. When the war finished, Pierson decided to return to Yale to undertake a Ph.D. in art history. His dissertation studied the industrial architecture of

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, and his passion for this subject remained with him for the rest of his career. In the 1970s, he campaigned to save a former mill in

Harrisville, New Hampshire Harrisville is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. Besides the town center, it also includes the villages of Chesham and Eastview. The population of the town was 984 at the 2020 census. Harrisville is a unique, preserved 19th ...

. Due to his efforts and those of others, Harrisville is the only 19th-century mill town that has survived largely intact into the 21st century. Having caught the eye of

S. Lane Faison Samson Lane Faison, Jr. (November 16, 1907 – November 11, 2006) was an American art historian, professor, and director of the Williams College Museum of Art. He was one of the famed "Monuments Men" in World War II. Early life Faison was born ...

, head of the art history department at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

, Pierson moved to Williamstown to teach studio art and American architecture in 1946. With Faison and their colleague

Whitney Stoddard Whitney Snow Stoddard (March 25, 1913 – April 2, 2003) was an American art historian who specialized in medieval art. Born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, Stoddard studied art history at Williams College under the direction of Karl Weston, th ...

, Pierson worked continuously to turn Williams students towards careers in art history rather than law and finance. Their efforts resulted in a generation of Williams-educated curators who went on to lead some of the most distinguished museums and art collections in the United States. This group, whom the ''New York Times'' has termed the "Williams Art Mafia", include among its ranks

Earl A. Powell III Earl Alexander Powell III (born October 24, 1943),"E ...

of the

in Washington DC,

of the

in New York,

of the

and the

and

of the Guggenheim Museum in New York. Pierson, who was famous for tearing up his notes at the end of each of his lectures, emphasized the importance of maintaining the vitality and variety of his teaching throughout his thirty-year career. Pierson retired in 1973. Although teaching undergraduates was Pierson's foremost passion, he also authored a four-volume scholarly series entitled ''American Buildings and Their Architects'' along with

William Jordy William H. Jordy (1917 – 10 August 1997) was a leading American architectural historian. At the time of his death, Jordy was Henry Ledyard Goddard Professor Emeritus of Art History at Brown University, where he taught for many years. Jordy rec ...

. In conjunction with the Society of Architectural Historians, he was also working on the sixty-volume ''Buildings of the United States'' Series, which catalogs the architectural history of each of the fifty states in addition to several major cities. Pierson died on December 3, 2008, in Williamstown, Massachusetts.William Pierson; art professor influenced generations of curators dies
''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' He is survived by two daughters and two granddaughters.

Books

*Pierson, William, H. Jr., and Davidson, Martha, editors, ''Arts of the United States: A Pictorial Survey'' (Athens GA : University of Georgia Press, 1966) *Pierson, William H. Jr., ''American Buildings and Their Architects: The Colonial and Neoclassical Styles'' (Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1972) *Pierson, William H. Jr., ''American Buildings and Their Architects: Technology and the Picturesque'' (Garden City NY: Doubleday, 1972)

Other writings

*Pierson, William H. Jr., "The Beauty of a Belief: The Ames Family, Richardson, and Unitarianism," in Meister, Maureen, ed., ''H. H. Richardson: The Architect, His Peers, and Their Era'' (Cambridge MA:

MIT Press The MIT Press is a university press affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts (United States). It was established in 1962. History The MIT Press traces its origins back to 1926 when MIT publish ...

, 1999)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierson, William Jr. 1911 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American historians American artists American architecture writers American male non-fiction writers American architectural historians American art historians Yale University alumni Williams College faculty 20th-century American male writers

Books

Other writings

See also

References