Wilbur David Peat

(Nov. 8, 1898-Dec. 14, 1966). Wilbur David Peat was born in Chengtu, Szechuan, China, to parents of English descent. He was a student at Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated in 1923 from the Cleveland School of Art where he received the Agnes Gund portrait scholarship for study abroad.

Peat further studied at the National Academy of Design and the Art Students League in New York City and traveled to Paris for instruction at the Colarossi Academy in 1924. He also received a master of arts degree from the University of Chicago.

From 1924 to 1929, Peat served as director of the Akron Art Institute, Akron, Ohio, and was an art instructor at the University of Akron and the Western Reserve Academy during 1926 and 1927. In 1929, he became director of the John Herron Art Museum, the forerunner of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. He remained in that capacity until 1965 and as a consultant until his death.

While at Herron, Peat brought national recognition to the museum through the major art exhibitions that he assembled. The museum’s permanent collection was rounded out under Peat’s supervision, acquiring examples of most of the European schools as well as promoting the contemporary American artist. To judge the annual Indiana Artists exhibitions held at Herron, Peat was instrumental in bringing to Indianapolis such well-known American artists as Thomas Hart Benton, who was a painter and muralist who at the time was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry.

Peat received honorary doctorate degrees from Hanover College in 1944 and Indiana Central College (University of Indianapolis) in 1956. He was a member of the American Association of Museums, the Midwest Museum Conference, and the Indiana Artists Club. His publications include Portraits And Painters Of The Governors Of Indiana, 1800-1943 (1944), Pioneer Painters Of Indiana (1954), Indiana Houses Of The Nineteenth Century (1962), and, as coauthor, The House Of The Singing Winds: The Life And Work Of T. C. Steele (1966).

In fall 2018, the University of Indianapolis mounted an exhibition of Peat’s work, which had been collected by his family, at the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center gallery. The exhibit uncovered hidden and rare works that recognized and commemorated his contributions to the Indianapolis arts scene.

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