Noble, Joseph Veach 1920–2007

(Joseph V. Noble)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born April 3, 1920, in Philadelphia, PA; died of heart failure, September 22, 2007, in West Orange, NJ. Museologist, art collector, antiquities expert, ceramist, and author. During nearly fifteen years as an administrator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, in 1967 Noble exposed three of the museum's sculptures as forgeries. These terra cotta warriors had not been created during Etruscan times, as had been thought, but during World War I. Noble was an expert in Greek antiquities. Not only did he own the largest American collection of Athenian vases in private hands at the time, but, as a hobbyist of sorts, he also (openly) created replicas of ancient ceramics that he fired in his own kiln. He was well versed in the history of ceramic glazes, both ancient and modern. In 1970 Noble moved from the "Met" to the Museum of the City of New York, which had, until his arrival, specialized in the history of the city. Noble dedicated himself to updating the collection, including his addition of the controversial photographic exhibit "Drug Scene" and the three-dimensional, multimedia "Cityrama" presentation. He retired from the museum in 1985 but remained active in the art community, notably as the chair of the Brookgreen Gardens sculpture park and wildlife preserve in South Carolina until 1995. Noble spent the first ten years of his career as a television camera operator, studio manager, and film company executive. He was a director of Film Counselors from 1950 to 1982, and he exhibited his own photographs, beginning as early as 1936. Noble also wrote a few books, including The Techniques of Painted Attic Pottery(1965).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times, September 29, 2007, p. B10.