27.10.2013 Views

Bulletin - Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation - Carnegie ...

Bulletin - Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation - Carnegie ...

Bulletin - Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation - Carnegie ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

In Memoriam<br />

Joseph Calcutta (1911–2001)<br />

Following a long employment with the <strong>Hunt</strong> family, Joseph<br />

Calcutta was the operations manager at the <strong>Institute</strong> from<br />

1967 until his retirement in 1978, after which he continued as<br />

operations consultant. He is survived by his wife, Margaret<br />

Ann, and five children, Sr. Margaret Ann, Joseph, James, Gerard<br />

and Francis.<br />

I had been at the <strong>Institute</strong> <strong>for</strong> a little over a year when I met<br />

Joe in 1999 during an exhibition. When he learned that I was<br />

a new employee, he was eager to take me on a proper tour<br />

of the Reading Room, the elegant space fashioned by Mrs.<br />

<strong>Hunt</strong> after her library. This gorgeous room is, frankly, a little<br />

intimidating. Like the decorative arts collection at any museum,<br />

it invites respectful gazing from behind the safety of glass doors.<br />

I had yet to muster the courage to tread upon the Savonnerie<br />

rugs woven on 17th-century looms in Aubusson. The echo of<br />

my shoes clicking across the teakwood parquet imported from<br />

Thailand was enough to discourage any attempts at exploration.<br />

Besides, there were manuscripts to edit.<br />

That night, with the glass doors flung wide, Joe and I glided<br />

across the threshold, the barriers of class and time disappearing<br />

like mist. Joe recounted stories at each piece of furniture. There<br />

was the chandelier Mrs. <strong>Hunt</strong> spotted from the car in the window<br />

of an antique store on Fifth Avenue. The portraits of the children<br />

and of Mrs. <strong>Hunt</strong> gave him pause as he remembered. For Joe,<br />

who had seen the originals, even these replicas held a lifetime<br />

of memories. I wish I had been prepared to take notes.<br />

Since then, I have read the letters, shuffled through the receipts,<br />

and spread out the building plans. I have sorted myth from reality<br />

into separate files. I’m no longer reluctant to enter the room.<br />

Maybe he did see the past through Mrs. <strong>Hunt</strong>’s rose-colored<br />

mirror, but it was a better story when Joe told it.<br />

Richard Carroll, self portrait.<br />

10 Bull. <strong>Hunt</strong> Inst. Bot. Doc. 13(2), Fall 2001<br />

— Scarlett T. Townsend<br />

Gary Arnold, Joseph Calcutta, and Alfred <strong>Hunt</strong> at the 2nd<br />

International preview reception in 1972. The portrait of Mrs.<br />

<strong>Hunt</strong> by Antonio Ortiz Echagüe is in the background.<br />

Richard Carroll (1931–2001)<br />

After spending 20 years as an art director and television<br />

producer at Young & Rubicam in New York and Detroit,<br />

Richard Carroll began freelancing in advertising art in<br />

1974. He turned to fine art in 1987, mainly painting hyperrealistic<br />

subjects in egg tempera. He held his first exhibition<br />

in 1989 at the Alexander Milliken Art Gallery, New York.<br />

In the following years his work was included in several group<br />

exhibitions including our 7th International Exhibition of <strong>Botanical</strong><br />

Art & Illustration in 1992 and the Dr. Shirley Sherwood<br />

collection in London. His work was the inspiration <strong>for</strong> our<br />

fall 2000 exhibition, Gifts of Winter, which featured six of his<br />

paintings in egg tempera. In an introductory essay to his work<br />

in Gifts of Winter, Carroll described his method: “The shape,<br />

edge detail, surface texture and <strong>for</strong>m as revealed in a strong,<br />

single source light are the considerations that attract me to<br />

choose the inventory from which my compositions are derived.<br />

… Egg tempera is unique in its qualities, and I know of no<br />

other medium that allows the versatility in painting subjects<br />

of this kind.” His work is also in many private collections in<br />

the United States, Canada and Europe.<br />

— (from White and Bruno, Gifts of Winter, Pittsburgh,<br />

2000)

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!