An Explanation of My Username

There have been very few persons over the past 200 years who have had a serious academic interest in the watercolors of William Henry Hunt (1790-1864). The most well known was John Ruskin, the famous English art critic, art professor, and writer. Ruskin's Notes on Prout and Hunt, which he wrote in connection with an exhibition he organized in 1879, has formed the basis or starting point for most serious discussions of Hunt -- to a large degree also stifling independent thought and new interpretations of the artist's work. When Ruskin first started as an art critic, first by rising in defense of the merits of J. M. W. Turner's work, he wrote anonymously under the pen name "A Graduate of Oxford." Since I became aware of Hunt's work a few months after graduating from Pomona College in Claremont, California (where my extreme interest in old master paintings arose and was nurtured) and because I have spent a very large amount of my time since 1978 with my obsession with the work of William Henry Hunt, it seemed appropriate to chose a username which is a personal variation of the great critic's choice for a pseudonym many years ago.

Several of those other persons who have written about Hunt's work were, like myself, attorneys who were also interested in art. These include the famous art criti and son of a major collector of Hunt originals, Harry Quilter, who wrote for several London newspapers and periodicals in the late 19th century. More recently, the solicitor, Sir John Witt, wrote the most significant book on Hunt [to date], only to pass away shortly before I began traveling to England to study Hunt's works in museums scattered across Great Britain. Although I was not able to meet and discuss our mutual interests with Witt and earlier writers on the artist, I am grateful that a few persons immortalized their knowledge and thoughts on Hunt through their writings, keeping the little archival and published information fairly accessible and at least some memory of Hunt's work alive. I should note that I was fortunate enough to meet one of the few other major writers on Hunt's work, Tom Jones, in 1986. His catalogue for a 1981 traveling exhibition in England is remarkable for its many new insights into Hunt's career and work, which largely broke free from Ruskin's long dominance.

Most of the 800+ photographs of watercolors by William Henry Hunt which I have accumulated over the past 40 years are posted on flickr but are not publicly viewable. Anyone with a specific interest in the artist should feel free to contact me.