John Harris (curator)

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John Frederick Harris OBE (1931- ) is an English curator, historian of architecture, gardens and architectural drawings, and the author of more than 25 books and catalogues, and 200 articles. He is a Fellow and Curator Emeritus of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects, founding Trustee of SAVE Britain's Heritage and SAVE Europe's Heritage, and founding member and Honorary Life President of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums.

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[edit] Career

John Harris left school at the age of 14 in 1946. He travelled and took on miscellaneous jobs, before starting his proper career in 1954 working in an antiques shop, Collin and Winslow[1]. In 1956 he joined the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Library and Drawings Collection in London, becoming curator of its British Architectural Library's Drawings Collection from 1960-86[2]. This included the establishment in 1972 of a permanent home for the Drawings Collection in the James Adam designed house at 21 Portman Square (moved to the V&A Henry Cole Wing in 2002), next door to and sharing with the Courtauld Institute at Home House, 20 Portman Square (moved to Somerset House in 1989). Harris founded and organised 42 exhibitions at the Heinz Gallery, on the ground floor of 21 Portman Square, opened in 1972, designed by Stefan Buzas and Alan Irvine, given by Mr and Mrs Henry J Heinz II[3], being the first purpose built gallery for the display of architectural drawings in the English speaking world[4]. The Gallery was purchased in 2000 by the Irish Architectural Archive and moved in 2003-4 to the ground floor of their relocated premises at 45 Merrion Square, Dublin, which opened to the public in 2005[5]. RIBA's Drawings Collection Gallery was re-established in 2004 as part of the joint V&A and RIBA Architecture Partnership, creating the Architecture Gallery in Room 128 at the V&A.

Harris was a co-curator of the seminal exhibition The Destruction of the Country House held at the V&A in 1974, with Sir Roy Strong and Marcus Binney, which gave impetus to the movement to conserve British country houses [6] and the founding in 1975 of SAVE Britain's Heritage. He was editor of Studies in Architecture 1976-99. In 1996 he was a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Center, Getty Villa , Santa Monica[7]. Harris also played a crucial role in the establishment of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal and the Heinz Architecture Centre in the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh[8]. He was a member for ten years of Mr Paul Mellon’s London Acquisitions Committee. Harris worked on the Victoria and Albert Primary Galleries Project (1996-2001). He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Harris is married to American historian and author Dr Eileen Harris (from circa 1961), has a son, Lucian, and a daughter, Georgina, and lives in London and Badminton, Gloucestershire.

[edit] Books - Author (in reverse chronology)

  • Badminton: The Duke of Beaufort, His House (2007).
  • Carlo Fontana: The Drawings at Windsor Castle (1987).
  • The Palladians (1982) Rizzoli, paperback, ISBN-10: 0847804208, ISBN-13: 978-0847804207.
  • Lost Houses of Scotland (1980) with Marcus Binney and Emma Winnington, Save Britain's Heritage, ISBN-10: 0905978056, ISBN-13: 978-0905978055.
  • A Garden Alphabet (1979) compiled by John Harris in association with The Victoria and Albert Museum for the Garden Exhibition, Octopus Books, ISBN-10: 0706410823, ISBN-13: 978-0706410822.
  • A Country House Index (1971) An index to over 2000 country houses illustrated in 107 books of country views published between 1715 and 1872, together with a list of British country house guides and country house art collection catalogues for the period 1726-1880, Pinhorns Handbooks No 7, ISBN-10: 0901262102, ISBN-13: 978-0901262103. 2nd edition (1979) Pinhorns, ISBN-10: 0901262218, ISBN-13: 978-0901262219.
  • Georgian Country Houses (1968) Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings Series, Country Life Books, ISBN-10: 0600431525, ISBN-13: 978-0600431527.
  • Lincolnshire (1964) Buildings of England series, with Nikolaus Pevsner, Penguin. Revised by Nicholas Antram in 1970 and 1989.

[edit] Books - Editor

[edit] Books - Exhibition Catalogues

  • Silent Cities (1977) An Exhibition of the Memorial and Cemetery Architecture of the Great War, with Gavin Stamp, at the RIBA Heinz Gallery, London.
  • Headfort House and Robert Adam (1973) Drawings from The Collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon, at the RIBA Heinz Gallery, London.
  • The King's Arcadia: Inigo Jones and the Stuart Court (1973) with Stephen Orgel and Roy Strong, a quatercentenary exhibition at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London.

[edit] Books - Contributor

[edit] Books - Introduction

[edit] Articles

  • A Dying Breed of Connoisseur, The Art Newspaper, April 2002.
  • Diverting Labyrinths, Country Life magazine, 11 January 1990.

[edit] Lectures

  • The Annual Soane Lecture (2007) Sir John Soane's Museum, London, on Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Building Design Online, Moving Stories article by John Harris on 24 August 2007 retrieved 31 October 2007
  2. ^ Garden Visit and Travel Guide retrieved 31 October 2007
  3. ^ Design 1972 Journal article Architecture in embryo retrieved 12 November 2007
  4. ^ Irish Architectural Archive, Annual Report 2000, page 16 retrieved 12 November 2007
  5. ^ Building Design Online, Moving Stories article by John Harris on 24 August 2007 retrieved 31 October 2007
  6. ^ Wikipedia on Marcus Binney retrieved 31 October 2007
  7. ^ Yale University Press, 1996 publication retrieved 31 October 2007
  8. ^ Trustees of SAVE Europe's Heritage retrieved 31 October 2007

[edit] External links