Thomas Hoving

Thomas Pearsall Field Hoving (January 15, 1931 – December 10, 2009) was an American museum executive and consultant and the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.^[1]

Early life

He was born in

After schooling at Manhattan's Buckley School, Eaglebrook School in Massachusetts and a brief stint at Exeter, Hoving graduated from the Hotchkiss School in 1949.^[1] He received a B.A. in 1953, an M.F.A. in 1958, and a Ph.D. in 1959, all from Princeton University.

Career

As an undergraduate he majored in art and archaeology and supplemented his studies with regular trips to New York City to draw at the Art Students League.^[3] He went to work for the Met in 1959, serving on the staff of the medieval department at The Cloisters until 1965, when he became curator of the department.^[4]

He left the Met in 1966 to become New York mayor

His tenure at the Metropolitan Museum of Art was characterized by his distinctive approach to expanding the Met's collections. Rather than build more comprehensive holdings of relatively modest works, he pursued a smaller number of what he termed "world-class" pieces, including the Euphronios Krater depicting the death of Sarpedon (returned to Italy in 2008), Velázquez's Portrait of Juan de Pareja, and the Temple of Dendur.^[6]

The expansion of the Met during Hoving's directorship was not confined to its collections. Hoving also spearheaded a number of building projects and renovations of the Met itself, from a controversial expansion of its galleries into Central Park to the construction of its underground parking garage.^[6]

Two of the building's most characteristic features—the huge exterior banners announcing current shows, and the broad plaza and steps leading from Fifth Avenue to the Met's entryway—are products of Hoving's tenure. At one point, he even floated a plan to remove the Met's "great staircase" leading from the central lobby to the second-floor galleries. That particular project remains unrealized.^{[6]: 156–163}

Hoving described the negotiations between the Metropolitan Museum, the

Hoving was the director of the controversial "Harlem On My Mind" exhibit, curated by Allon Schoener, which garnered significant protests from local activists and artists for its exclusion of black artists, as well as for the inclusion of an anti-Semitic essay in the catalogue. Hoving apologized and included disclaimers before the essay in the catalogue, but did not remove it.^[8]

In his memoirs he revealed 2009 that Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece Mona Lisa was sprinkled for several hours inside the Metropolitan Museum.^[9]

Later career

He left the Met on June 30, 1977, to start an independent consulting firm for museums, Hoving Associates. From 1978 to 1984 he was an arts correspondent for the

In 1953, Hoving was married to Nancy Bell, a Vassar College graduate whom he met at a house party in Princeton.^[13] She was the daughter of Elliott V. Bell (1902–1983), a writer for The New York Times who managed the two successful gubernatorial campaigns for his friend, Thomas E. Dewey.^[13] They had a daughter.^[1]

Hoving died of lung cancer at his home in Manhattan, New York City, on December 10, 2009.^[1]

In popular culture

Hoving appeared in

He was the subject of the titular profile in A Roomful of Hovings and Other Profiles, a 1969 collection of biographical pieces by John McPhee.

Works

• Hoving, Thomas (2005). Master Pieces: The Curator's Game.
  ISBN 9780393328387
  .
• Hoving, Thomas (1999). Art for Dummies.
  ISBN 978-0764551048
  .
• Hoving, Thomas (1997). False Impressions: The Hunt for Big-Time Art Fakes. New York:
  ISBN 0-684-81134-0
  .
• Hoving, Thomas (1993). Making the Mummies Dance: Inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York:
  ISBN 978-0-671-88075-0
  .
• Hoving, Thomas. King of the Confessors: A New Appraisal. cybereditions.com: Christchurch, NZ, 2001.
• Hoving, Thomas. King of the Confessors. Simon & Schuster: New York, 1981.
• Artful Tom, A memoir // Artnet

Bibliography

• Watson, Peter (2007). The Medici Conspiracy. New York: Public Affairs.
  ISBN 978-1-58648-438-5
  .
• "Outdoorsman of the Big City", Life, April 29, 1966.
• ISBN 9780374515010
  .