Margaretta M. Salinger (March 22, 1907 – March 8, 1985) was an American art historian. She was curator of the Department of European Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Margaretta Salinger
A young white woman with wavy hair cut in a bob
Margaretta Salinger, from the 1928 yearbook of Bryn Mawr College
BornMarch 22, 1907
New York City
DiedMarch 8, 1985 (age 77)
New Britain, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation(s)Art historian, curator

Early life and education

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Salinger was born in New York City, the daughter of Arthur A. Salinger and Adaline Sager Magill Salinger. Her father was a veterinarian. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1928.[1]

Career

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Salinger became a cataloguer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1928. She was a researcher, lecturer and writer for the museum for many years.[2] She gave a popular series of free lectures on art appreciation at the museum in the 1950s,[3] and traveled giving lectures in other cities.[4][5] She chaired the boards of the museum's Scientific Publication Committee, and Editorial Advisory Committee. She was named a curator in 1970, a few years before she retired in 1972.[6][7]

Publications

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A colleague wrote in 1986 that, "In all of her work, whether spoken or written, Margaretta Salinger strove to express her perceptive ideas with precision and grace."[8] She frequently contributed essays to the Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.[9][10]

  • "Piazzetta's Drawing of a Shepherd Boy" (1937)[9]
  • "Christ and the Woman of Samaria by Caracciolo" (1937)[11]
  • "The Whitsun-Bride by Pieter Brueghel the Younger" (1939)[10]
  • A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch and German Painting in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1947, with Harry B. Wehle)[12]
  • "Representations of Saint Teresa" (1949)[13]
  • The Flower Piece in European Painting (1949)[14]
  • Vincent Van Gogh (1952)[15]
  • Masterpieces of French Paintings (Fifteenth to Mid-Nineteenth Centuries) (1955)
  • Diego Velazquez, 1599-1660 (1956)[16]
  • Michelangelo's The Last Judgment (1963)
  • French Painting of the 19th and 20th Centuries in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1966 and 1967, with Charles Sterling)[17]
  • Impressionists in the Metropolitan (1968)
  • Masterpieces of American Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1986, published posthumously)

Personal life

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Salinger died in 1985, at the age of 77, in New Britain, Connecticut.[6] There is a collection of her papers in the Metropolitan Museum of Art archives.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Bryn Mawr College. Senior Class (1928). Class of 1928. Special Collections Bryn Mawr College Library – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ "Metropolitan to Give 6 Courses Covering Most of Art History". The New York Times. September 13, 1959. p. 121. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  3. ^ "Free Lectures on Paintings". The New York Times. September 26, 1951. p. 27. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  4. ^ "Art League to Hear Author". The Times Leader. 1964-05-07. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-03-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Dutch Painter Lecture Topic". Ledger-Star. 1952-12-03. p. 13. Retrieved 2024-03-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b "Margaretta Salinger, A Curator Emeritus at the Met Museum". The New York Times. 1985-03-14. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  7. ^ a b Margaretta M. Salinger Records, 1941-1974, Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives.
  8. ^ "Masterpieces of American Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art". MetPublications. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
  9. ^ a b Salinger, Margaretta M. (1937). "Piazzetta's Drawing of a Shepherd Boy". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 32 (2): 38–40. doi:10.2307/3255268. ISSN 0026-1521. JSTOR 3255268.
  10. ^ a b Salinger, Margaretta M. (1939). "The Whitsun-Bride by Pieter Brueghel the Younger". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 34 (4): 88–90. doi:10.2307/3256345. ISSN 0026-1521. JSTOR 3256345.
  11. ^ Salinger, Margaretta M. (1937). "Christ and the Woman of Samaria by Caracciolo". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 32 (1): 4–6. doi:10.2307/3255289. ISSN 0026-1521. JSTOR 3255289.
  12. ^ Held, Julius S. (June 1949). "Harry B. Wehle and Margaretta M. Salinger, A Catalogue of Early Flemish, Dutch, and German Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: New York, Metropolitan Museum, 1947. 243 pages, 176 illus. $4.50". The Art Bulletin. 31 (2): 139–143. doi:10.1080/00043079.1949.11407861. ISSN 0004-3079.
  13. ^ Salinger, Margaretta (1949). "Representations of Saint Teresa". The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. 8 (3): 97–108. doi:10.2307/3258079. ISSN 0026-1521. JSTOR 3258079.
  14. ^ Shane, George (1949-06-12). "Flower Painting/George Shane". The Des Moines Register. p. 31. Retrieved 2024-03-03 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Salinger, Margaretta M. (1952). Vincent Van Gogh. Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  16. ^ Velásquez, Diego Rodríguez De Silva Y. (1956). Diego Velazquez, 1599-1660. Text by Margaretta Salinger. [London]; printed in Holland.
  17. ^ French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, Nineteenth Century. Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1966.
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