Dates
Biography
Theodore Sizer graduated from Harvard in 1916 with honors in the fine arts after only three years. During World War I he was a first lieutenant in the Army, though he did not serve overseas. As a second lieutenant after the war, Sizer sent his soldiers into the Philadelphia Museum of Art to foster their appreciation for the arts.
In 1922, Sizer came to CMA as curator of prints and drawings and curator of Oriental art. Under his direction a print study room was opened for rotating exhibitions and storing prints. He concurrently taught courses in art history at Western Reserve University, but the arrangement did not become permanent. Wishing to teach, he left CMA for an appointment as associate professor of art history and curator of painting and sculpture at Yale University in 1927. He was a professor of art at Yale from 1931 until he retired in 1957, and director of the art gallery from 1940 to 1947. In the latter post he transformed the gallery into a teaching institution.
During the Great Depression, Sizer directed the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project for southern Connecticut. He enlisted at the start of World War II, and became a member of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section. He served on the Allied Control Commission in Italy and later as a ranking officer in charge of the German Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives section of the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) in England. He achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Army for his efforts in saving art treasures. He left the Army by medical discharge in 1944. To recover his health, Sizer relinquished his duties as Yale’s gallery director, and with a Guggenheim Fellowship he took a year’s leave of absence from teaching. In 1945 he received the Order of the Crown of Italy for his role in recovering and preserving Italian works of art.
Sizer published numerous articles, twenty-seven of which appeared in the CMA Bulletin in 1922-27. He made his scholarly reputation with his writings on the painter John Trumbull (American, 1756-1843) in his later career at Yale. He published two books on Trumbull: "The Works of Colonel John Trumbull, Artist of the American Revolution" (1950) and "The Autobiography of Col. John Trumbull, Patriot-Artist, 1756-1843" (1953). He also published a number of journal articles on Trumbull. Sizer donated his papers compiled for his historical editing project on the Trumbull autobiography to the Archives of American Art in 1961.
Theodore Sizer was living in Bethany, Connecticut when he died in 1967 in West Haven.
-Biography by Anne Cuyler Salsich, November 2024
Occupations
Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:
Scope and Contents note
From the Series:
This is the largest series of records documenting Whiting's tenure as director of The Cleveland Museum of Art. Most of the series dates from 1913 to 1930, the years that Whiting was director, although a small percentage predates his arrival in Cleveland (see, for example, Henry Kent's correspondence with the building committee from 1912-1913, located in box 1). These records reflect a time when museum functions and departments were not yet fully delineated. Together, they...
Dates:
1926-1930
File — Box: 55, Folder: 11
Scope and Contents note
From the Series:
This is the largest series of records documenting Whiting's tenure as director of The Cleveland Museum of Art. Most of the series dates from 1913 to 1930, the years that Whiting was director, although a small percentage predates his arrival in Cleveland (see, for example, Henry Kent's correspondence with the building committee from 1912-1913, located in box 1). These records reflect a time when museum functions and departments were not yet fully delineated. Together, they...
Dates:
1916-1922
File — Box: 63, Folder: 3
Scope and Contents note
From the Series:
This series contains the bulk of the records Sherman Lee created. They cover all of the years that Lee directed the museum and a few years prior to his appointment as director, when he was curator of Oriental art. The records are organized alphabetically, usually by the name of the correspondent but occasionally by subject heading. Materials within the folders are organized chronologically. At the end of each alphabetical letter there are folders for miscellaneous correspondence, also...
Dates:
1960-1966
File — Box: 12, Folder: 67
Scope and Contents note
From the Series:
The CMA Portraits series includes two subseries: named individuals and groups/events/programs. Named individuals are arranged alphabetically, and groups/events/programs are arranged chronologically. Most photographs are of staff, trustees, donors, visiting lecturers, organists and other performers. Files for the museum directors include the director's family and group photographs. The people in the photographs in the groups subseries may or may not be directly related to the museum. Not all...
Dates:
approximately 1880-2014
File — Box: 48, Folder: 6
Scope and Contents note
From the Series:
This is the central correspondence file from Milliken's tenure as director, dating from 1930-1958. When Milliken became director, he apparently continued Whiting's numerical filing scheme for awhile, but at some point he (or someone on his support staff) decided to establish a new central file of director's correspondence in an alphabetical sequence by correspondent names and subject terms. Materials in each file are usually arranged chronologically, although general files, such as those...
Dates:
1930-1957
