Notes on Stuart Cary Welch

Cary Welch is a marvel. His work at Harvard, the Met, his books and students and still he is amazingly down to earth. I have had the privilege of corresponding with him and his notes are a delight. One part I find very touching is that he speaks of his students in the same manner he speaks of his grandchildren. Unlike the new crop of experts even among his own students Cary is not just a scholar but he is also a Connoisseur. We certainly do not always agree on our attributions but he has a depth of knowledge about the individual artists and their techniques that is unrivaled today.

Of all of his books The Houghton Shahnameh that he wrote with Professor Martin B. Dickson of Princeton stands out as his greatest work. It is the most amazingly researched book I have ever seen. It sets a standard for research and Connoisseurship that I do not expect to see matched in my life time.

Education:
- A.B. from Harvard in 1950
- graduate study in ancient art at Harvard in 1952–54
Position:
- Honorary assistant keeper of Islamic art for the Fogg Art Museum in 1956–70
- Honorary keeper of Islamic art in 1970–76.
- Curator of Islamic and later Indian art 1976 to 1995.
- Senior lecturer in fine arts, Department of Fine Arts, Harvard University, mid-1970s to 1995.
- Curator emeritus, Islamic and Later Indian art, Sackler Museum. 1995 to present
- Head of the department of Islamic art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1979–87.

Books including various editions:
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Dickson M.B. The Houghton Shahnameh. Cambridge , Harvard University Press , 1981.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, The Art of Mughal India New York:1964
- New York. Asia House Gallery. Text by Stuart Cary Welch and Milo Cleveland Beach Gods, Thrones, and Peacocks Northern Indian Painting from Two Traditions: Fifteenth to Nineteenth Centuries The Asia Society 1965
- Welch, Stuart Cary, A King's Book of Kings. The Shah-Nameh of Shah Tahmasp. Greenwich New York Graphic Society, Metropolitan Museum of Art.. 1972.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, A Flower From every Meadow, Indian Paintings from American Collections. New York: The Asia Society, Inc. 1973.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Persian Painting Five Royal Manuscripts of the Sixteenth Century. New York: George Braziller. 1976.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Das Buch der Könige . Das Schahname des Schah Tahmasp . Miniaturen im Besitz des Metropolitan Museum in New York Munich , Prestel-Verlag , 1976.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Indian drawings and painted sketches, 16th through 19th centuries : [catalogue] New York, Asia Society in association with John Weatherhill, Inc. 1976.
- Welch , S.C. Persische Buchmalerei aus fünf königlichen Handschriften des sechzehnten Jahrhundert München , Prestel, 1978.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Imperial Mughal Painting, New York:1978.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Peinture Impériale Moghole. New York, 1978.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Indische Buchmalerei unter den Gro moguln 16. - 19. Jahrhundert. München, 1978.
- Welch, Stuart Cary. Room for wonder: Indian painting during the British period 1760-1880 NY: Amer. Federatn of Arts, 1978
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Wonders of the Age. Cambridge: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. 1979.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Gods Thrones and Peacocks Ayer Co Pub 1979
- Welch, Stuart Cary, 1980 Magic Kingdom Engagement Calender, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1980.
- Welch, Stuart Cary. and Welch, Anthony Arts of the Islamic Book. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 1982.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Schimmel, Annemarie, Anvari's Divan: A Pocket Book for Akbar. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art 1983.
- Welch, Stuart Carey, et al. Tressors De L'Islam. Geneva, Musee d'Art et d'Histoire, 1985.
- Patnaik, Naveen A Second Paradise: Indian Courtly Life 1590-1947. Introduction by Stuart Cary Welch. New York Doubleday/Museum of Mod. Art 1985. (edit.Note: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis)
- Welch, Stuart Cary, The Emperors' Album : Images of Mughal India New York: Harry N Abrams.1987
- Welch, Stuart Cary, The Islamic World New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art 1987
- Welch , Stuart Cary, Das Buch der Könige . Das Schahname des Schah Tahmasp . Miniaturen im Besitz des Metropolitan Museum in New York Munich , Prestel-Verlag , 1976 ,
- Welch, Stuart Cary, Rossi, Barbara, Craven, Roy C., From the Ocean of Painting : India's Popular Paintings 1589 to the Present. Ames: University of Iowa 1997.
- Welch, Stuart Cary, India: art and culture 1300-1900. Munich:Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1997
- Welch, Stuart Cary. "BOOKS". Hali 97, 1998. page 98. "Stuart Cary Welch looks at Flowers Underfoot, Daniel Walker's catalogue for the Metropolitan Museum's much acclaimed exhibition of Indian carpets of the Mughal era."
- Harvard University Art Museums Show Fall 97 "KOTAH: Its Gods, Kings, and Tigers" curated by Stuart Cary Welch.
- Gods, Kings, and Tigers: The Art of Kotah edited by Stuart Cary Welch. New York and Cambridge: Asia Society Galleries and Harvard University Museums, 1997.
- Barbara Rossi, Roy C. Craven, Stuart Cary Welch, From the Ocean of Painting : India's Popular Paintings 1589 to the Present . Davenport : University of Iowa and Oxford Univ.
- Ehsan Yar-Shater, Dick Davis (Translator), Afterward by Welch, Stuart Cary, The Lion and the Throne Washington DC: Mage
Miscellaneous
- Lectured at Bayly Art Museum University of Virginia, Rugby Road Charlottesville, Virginia 22903
- Jan. 96 Harvard's Sackler Museum, '`Indian Harvest: Rajasthani Paintings from the Stuart Cary Welch Collection'
- The Cary Welch Rustam and White Div

To judge Welch by his work would be to miss half of his genius. One must also consider his students.

Prominent Scholars (not all by any means but a few of the many that Cary speaks kindly of):

Julia Bailey, assistant curator of Islamic art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,
Milo Beach, director, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC,
Sheila Canby, keeper of Islamic art, British Museum, London,
Thomas Lentz, deputy director, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, DC,
Glenn Lowery, director, The Museum of Modern Art,
Marianna Shreve Simpson, curator of Islamic art, The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore,
Walter Denny. University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Daniel Walker, curator of Islamic art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.