Patrick Noon papers, 1972 2021
- Call Number:
- S023
- Title(s):
- Patrick Noon papers
- Date:
- 1972 2021
- Extent:
- 12.09 linear feet
- Classification:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Provenance:
- Gift of Patrick Noon, 2023.
- Conditions Governing Access:
- Series III. Minneapolis Museum of Art requires permission. Series VI. Yale Center for British Art is restricted. The rest of the collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use:
- Copyright has been transferred to Yale University. Materials for which copyright has been transferred to Yale may be used for non-commercial purposes without seeking permission from Yale University as the copyright holder. For other uses of these materials, please contact ycba.archives@yale.edu. Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Biographical/Historical:
- Patrick Noon is one of the three founding curators of the Prints and Drawings department of the Yale Center for British Art (YCBA). He began as the assistant curator in the department (1977–80) before being promoted to senior curator (1981–90). From 1990 to 1997, he served as the senior curator for both the Prints and Drawings department and the Rare Books and Manuscripts department. Noon was born in 1951 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended Brown University from 1969 to 1973 and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in art history. He then continued to the University of Michigan for his master’s degree in 1973, finishing in 1974. From 1974 to 1976 he interned at the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio as a part of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, working with their print collection. Following his time in Toledo, Noon joined the staff at the YCBA. Noon was instrumental in building the YCBA's Prints and Drawings department. This included overseeing the arrival, accessioning, and storage of drawings initially gifted to the museum by Paul Mellon; curating exhibits; working with donors to expand the collection; and developing opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to become involved with the museum. He also developed hiring practices for the department, implemented methods of collections management, and partnered with other cultural heritage organizations to expand the reach of the YCBA. During his tenure at the YCBA, Noon gained a reputation as an expert on the English painter Richard Parkes Bonington (1802–1828). This resulted in the major exhibition <title>Richard Parkes Bonington: On the Pleasure of Painting</title> in 1991, which traveled to Paris following its time in New Haven. His work in preparing the exhibition, which included determining which works were properly attributed to Bonington, and his interest in exploring the relationship between English and French art in the 1700s and 1800s led him to become one of the most noted Bonington scholars and set the stage for future exhibitions. In 2009, Noon published <title>Richard Parkes Bonington: The Complete Paintings</title> (New Haven: Yale University Press), a catalogue raisonné of Bonington’s works. Likewise, his interest in the exchange between French and English art in the nineteenth century led to the exhibition <title>Crossing the Channel: British and French Painting in the Age of Romanticism</title>, held at Tate Britain (February–May 2003), the Minneapolis Institute of Art (June–September 2003), and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (October 2003 – January 2004). Noon joined the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia) in 1997 as the Patrick and Aimee Butler Curator of Paintings and Modern Sculpture. He held the position until 2014 when he became the Elizabeth MacMillan Chair of Paintings. During his time at Mia, Noon oversaw the acquisition of new works and the reinstallation of collections and lectured widely. Other major exhibitions he worked on include <title>Delacroix and the Rise of Modern Art</title> (October 2015 – January 2016), <title>Mirror of Nature: Nordic Landscape Painting 1840–1910</title> (June–September 2007), and <title>Titian and the Golden Age of Venetian Painting</title> (February–May 2011). In 2020 he retired from Mia, becoming the emeritus chair of paintings.
- Scope and Content:
- The Patrick Noon papers span 1973-2020 and document his life and work as an art historian and museum curator. They include his time as a graduate student at the University of Michigan, artist research, exhibition planning, and published books. His papers related to the Yale Center for British Art document the exhibition <title>Richard Parkes Bonington: On the Pleasure of Painting</title>, as well as administrative aspects of the YCBA. There is a significant volume of material related to the artist Richard Parkes Bonington, specifically regarding misattributions and questions of authenticity.
- Arrangement:
- Material is arranged into six series: Series I. Artist files, 1972-2021; Series II. Graduate school, 1973-1982; Series III. Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia), 1994-2004; Series IV. Published works, 1976-201); Series V. Richard Parkes Bonington, 1970-2021; Series VI. Yale Center for British Art, 1976-2001.
- Subject Terms:
- Art historiansArt museum curatorsArt museumsCollege art museums
- Subject Period:
- 20th Century
- Associated Places:
- United States
- Associated People/Groups:
- Bonington, Richard Parkes, 1801-1828Yale Center for British Art
- Finding Aid Title:
- Patrick Noon papers
- Archival Object:
- https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/resources/13565
- Metadata Cloud URL:
- https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/resources/13565?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1