George Leslie Stout

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George Leslie Stout Veteran

Birth
Winterset, Madison County, Iowa, USA
Death
1 Jul 1978 (aged 80)
Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California, USA
Burial
Burial Details Unknown Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Stout was born on October 5, 1897 in Winterset, Iowa. He served in a U.S. military hospital unit during World War I. After the war he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa, and then traveled throughout Europe. In 1924 he married Margaret Hayes, with whom he had two sons, Robert and Thomas.

In 1926 Stout began work on his master's degree at Harvard University. In 1929 he graduated and started his museum career in the art conservation department of Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, where he worked as a lecturer and conservator. Along with Harvard chemist Rutherford John Gettens, Stout pioneered three major areas of art conservation: rudiments, degradation, and reparations. This helped bring art conservation work into the world of modern science. He became head of the Fogg's conservation department in 1933, a position he held until 1947.

A Navy reservist for some time, Stout was placed on active duty in 1943, and soon after joined the Twelfth Army Group. Because of his art conservation background, he was one of the first recruited to the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section (MFAA). The group was charged with the protection of and documentation of damages to European cultural monuments during World War II, as well as the investigation, location, recovery, and repatriation of art that had been plundered by the Nazis.

While in Europe from 1944 - 1945, he supervised the inventory and removal of several thousand art works from repositories hidden in salt mines, churches, and other locations, and was appointed as the deputy commander of the MFAA. After Japan's official surrender on September 2, 1945, Stout and fellow Monuments Man Laurence Sickman recommended creating a MFAA division in Tokyo. Consequently, the Arts and Monuments Division of the Civil Information and Education Section, GHQ, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was established. Stout was the Chief of the Division from approximately August 1945 until the middle of 1946.

After the war, Stout subsequently directed the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1947 - 1954, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1955 - 1970. Stout was also instrumental in the founding of the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) and was its first president, from 1950 - 1953 and served on its Council until 1963. Stout was made an Honorary Fellow of IIC in 1966.

In 1975 Stout he was inducted as an honorary member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works for his accomplishments.

Stout died on July 1, 1978, at Stanford University Hospital following major surgery in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California.

Biography found on Wikipedia
Stout was born on October 5, 1897 in Winterset, Iowa. He served in a U.S. military hospital unit during World War I. After the war he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa, and then traveled throughout Europe. In 1924 he married Margaret Hayes, with whom he had two sons, Robert and Thomas.

In 1926 Stout began work on his master's degree at Harvard University. In 1929 he graduated and started his museum career in the art conservation department of Harvard's Fogg Art Museum, where he worked as a lecturer and conservator. Along with Harvard chemist Rutherford John Gettens, Stout pioneered three major areas of art conservation: rudiments, degradation, and reparations. This helped bring art conservation work into the world of modern science. He became head of the Fogg's conservation department in 1933, a position he held until 1947.

A Navy reservist for some time, Stout was placed on active duty in 1943, and soon after joined the Twelfth Army Group. Because of his art conservation background, he was one of the first recruited to the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section (MFAA). The group was charged with the protection of and documentation of damages to European cultural monuments during World War II, as well as the investigation, location, recovery, and repatriation of art that had been plundered by the Nazis.

While in Europe from 1944 - 1945, he supervised the inventory and removal of several thousand art works from repositories hidden in salt mines, churches, and other locations, and was appointed as the deputy commander of the MFAA. After Japan's official surrender on September 2, 1945, Stout and fellow Monuments Man Laurence Sickman recommended creating a MFAA division in Tokyo. Consequently, the Arts and Monuments Division of the Civil Information and Education Section, GHQ, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers was established. Stout was the Chief of the Division from approximately August 1945 until the middle of 1946.

After the war, Stout subsequently directed the Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1947 - 1954, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1955 - 1970. Stout was also instrumental in the founding of the International Institute for Conservation (IIC) and was its first president, from 1950 - 1953 and served on its Council until 1963. Stout was made an Honorary Fellow of IIC in 1966.

In 1975 Stout he was inducted as an honorary member of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works for his accomplishments.

Stout died on July 1, 1978, at Stanford University Hospital following major surgery in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, California.

Biography found on Wikipedia


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