Francis Henry Taylor

Francis Henry Taylor
Born	1903 Philadelphia
Died	1957
Nationality	American

Francis Henry Taylor (1903–1957) was a distinguished American museum director and curator, heading the Metropolitan Museum of Art for fifteen years.

He was born in Philadelphia, and started his career as a curator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. In 1931 he became director of the Worcester Art Museum Massachusetts, before joining the Metropolitan Museum in New York City as its director in 1940.

Sometimes described as a showman, he developed a theory of the museum as an institution of active public service, not simply a repository of art. He was credited with doubling the number of people visiting the museum, up to 2.3 million a year.

Books

His writings include:

• Babel's Tower: The Dilemma of the Modern Museum (1945)
• The Taste of Angels: A History of Art Collecting from Rameses to Napoleon (1948, reprint 1955) - ASIN B0007HX8Y6
• Fifty Centuries of Art (1954)
• Pierpont Morgan as Collector and Patron, 1837-1913 (1957), Pierpont Morgan Library - ASIN B0007DVP6I

External links

• Image of Francis Henry Taylor, Smithsonian Archives of American Art
• Photo by Yousuf Karsh
• Francis Henry Taylor at Find a Grave