Craig Smyth Interview.pdf

Craig Hugh Smyth was interviewed about his life and career as an art historian, discussing his education at Princeton University, his interest in music and art, and his decision to attend Princeton. He talked about his undergraduate life, the humanities curriculum, and the faculty, including Theodore Meyer Greene and Charles Rufus Morey. Smyth also discussed his graduate studies, his travels, and his senior thesis project on Virgil illustration in the Renaissance. He met Erwin Panofsky and considered dropping out of Princeton's art history program due to differences between Morey's and Panofsky's approaches. Smyth worked at the National Gallery of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Institute of Fine Arts, where he became director in 1950. He developed a museum-training program, an Islamic art program, and recruited faculty, including Richard Krautheimer. Smyth served as secretary of the College Art Association of America, completed military service during World War II, and pursued a Ph.D. while director of the Institute. He later became director of Villa I Tatti, where he worked on research projects, including the maniera and its development, and collaborated with Henry Millon on studies of Saint Peter's in Rome. Smyth discussed his goals as director of I Tatti, the selection of scholars, and the institution's relationship to Harvard University.