Cooney, John D. (John Ducey), 1905-1982
Biography
John Ducey Cooney, an Egyptologist, was a curator at the CMA from 1964 to 1974, following his curatorship at the Brooklyn Museum. He retired from his position at the CMA in 1974 after a heart attack but continued part-time as a research curator for the ancient collection until his full retirement in 1978. His special interests were glass in ancient Egypt, the influence of Persian art on Egyptian art, and Egyptian relief sculpture. He is credited with developing an approach to Egyptian objects as great works of art, not simply archeological curios. This was reflected in his 1956-57 exhibition “Five Years of Collecting Egyptian Art” at the Brooklyn Museum. At the CMA he continued to emphasize the aesthetic rather than historic value of the pieces he acquired. In addition to Cooney’s talent in collecting for the CMA, his acumen in presenting objects in exhibitions was recognized by those in his field.
Cooney received his BA from Harvard College, and did graduate work at Harvard University Graduate School and the University of Pennsylvania in the latter school’s Department of Semitic Languages until 1937. That year he began his career at the Brooklyn Museum, first as assistant curator in the Department of Ancient Arts, then as that department’s curator from 1940 through 1963. He spent summers in Europe searching for artifacts. During World War II he served in the armed services as a captain. He was also the director of the American Research Institute in Cairo in 1952-53. In his twenty-six years at the Brooklyn Museum Cooney built the great Egyptian collection there.
From Brooklyn Cooney began his tenure at the CMA, first as curator of Egyptian and classical art (1964-68), then as curator of ancient art (1968-74). Beginning in 1967 he was concurrently an adjunct professor at Case Western Reserve University. Cooney published numerous journal articles beginning in 1953 and contributed to the CMA Bulletin. His book-length works include Introduction to the Egyptian Art in the Brooklyn Museum (1952), Amarna Reliefs from Hermopolis in American Collections (1965), and Catalogue of the Egyptian Glass in the British Museum (1976).
Cooney was in high demand as a speaker, presenting in major cities in the U.S. and London. He was a guest lecturer for the opening of the Treasures of Tutankhamun exhibition at the National Gallery of Art and in Chicago under the auspices of The Oriental Institute and the Field Museum in 1976-77. He was a member of the Egypt Exploration Society and the Archaeological Institute of America. In 1964 he was made an honorary member of the Deutsches Archaologisches Institut.
John Cooney died after a long illness in 1982 while living in Sherman, Connecticut.
-Biography by Anne Cuyler Salsich, February 2025