RICHARD S. DAVIS:

Richard Siebe Davis was born in Ashland, Kentucky in 1917. He attended Phillips Academy (Andover, Massachusetts), and later graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1939. He also completed a year of graduate school at Harvard following his graduation.

In 1941, he accepted the position of curator at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He later took the position of director for the museum and library at Cranbook, but soon after joined the U.S. Naval Reserves to serve in World War II.

Initially, Davis served as a diplomatic courier for the U.S. Department of State, but he was eventually transferred to the Pacific Theater in 1944. There he served in Tokyo as a specialist officer, working for the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section Unit (also known as the Monuments Men), where he reported to Lieutenant Commander George Leslie Stout. Davis's responsibilities included recovery, inspection, cataloging, and returning of pre-war Japanese art, and art looted by Japanese forces from occupied countries. He served in this role until his formal discharge from active duty in May 1946.

After his service, Davis accepted the position of chief curator at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (MIA) in 1946. He served in this role until 1954 before becoming an assistant director, and then was promoted to the director of MIA in 1956. Davis specialized in 20th Century prints, drawings, and sculpture.

His tenure at MIA was somewhat controversial in that he heavily favored the acquisition of modern and contemporary art by obtaining funds through the sale of older works. In 1958, two high-valued jade stones were also stolen from the MIA holdings, and in the following year the institution was also sued by a New York art dealer for non-payment of a sculpture claimed to be made by the nephew of Leonardo da Vinci, which Davis and the MIA contested as a fake. Despite the controversies, however, Davis greatly expanded the MIA's collections in Expressionist and 20th Century art, and brought significant donor and endowment support and notable exhibitions to the institution. In 1959, with a new change in MIA leadership, Davis resigned from the MIA.

Following the MIA, Davis served as a United States Commissioner of the Fifth Art Biennial in São Paulo, Brazil (1959), and as a visiting expert for the United States Information Agency, lecturing in Bonn and London (1959-1960). He also worked as an art consultant for private collectors in London and New York, and continued this work in the remaining years of his life.

In his personal life, Davis was married to Phyllis Beckwith (August 20, 1949), and together they had three children: Richard Siebe, Jr., Margery Baker, and John Meigs. Davis also commissioned modernist architect Philip Cortelyou Johnson to design his home on Crystal Bay on Lake Minnetonka, where Davis displayed his personal art collection.

Richard Siebe Davis died at Martha's Vineyard at the age of 68 on September 27, 1985.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Richard S. Davis Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 17,978

Processing Information:

Processed by: Leif Kopietz, October 2024

Catalog ID number: 9989867139704294

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The bulk of the files include business correspondence with numerous galleries, art dealers, museums, and artists regarding acquisitions, sales, and loans for exhibitions for numerous artworks. Typically, files include business correspondence, acquisition and sales records, insurance information, invoices for art work, photographs, art work inventories, and auction and exhibition catalogs. The business correspondence prominently covers the periods Davis worked at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (1956-1959), but also his time as a private consultant and his work with the U.S. Information Agency and in São Paulo, Brazil (1959-1986).

Davis's military records and correspondence regarding his service and benefits (1946, 1950s) is interfiled among the correspondence files. Also included are correspondence and planning files for Davis's house designed by architect Philip Cortelyou Johnson (1950s), as well as numerous personal correspondence with family, friends, and colleagues.

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Photographs of artworks obtained by Richard S. Davis for research, exhibition, and business purposes.

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Art, European.

Art, American.

Art, Modern -- 20th Century.

Art museum curators.

Art galleries, Commercial.

Art dealers -- United States.

Art dealers -- Europe.

Artists and patrons.

Art auctions.

Art -- Collectors and collecting.

Art -- Economic aspects.

Expressionism (Art).

Art thefts -- Japan -- History -- 20th century.

Art treasures in war -- Asia -- History -- 20th century.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Art and the war.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Confiscations and contributions.

World War, 1939-1945 -- Destruction and pillage -- Asia.

Persons:

Moore, Henry, 1898-1986, author.

Zinser, Richard S., author.

Morandi, Giorgio, 1890-1964, author.

Manzù, Giacomo, 1908-1991, author.

Manzù, Pio, author.

Wildenstein, Daniel, 1917-2001, author.

Valentin, Curt, 1902-1954, author.

Borowski, Elie, author.

Kiley, Dan (Dan Urban), author.

Johnson, Philip, 1906-2005, author.

Organizations:

Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters. Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section -- History.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts, author.

R.M. Light & Co., author.

Wildenstein and Company (New York, N.Y.), author.

M. Knoedler & Co., author.

Curt Valentin Gallery (New York, N.Y.), author.

United States Information Agency, author.

Document Types:

Photographs.

Negatives (photographs).

Exhibition catalogs.

Auction catalogs.

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