Sumpter Priddy, III in the gallery.
Sumpter Priddy, III
A brief biography
Sumpter Priddy holds a BA in Architectural History from the University of Virginia and an MA from Winterthur. He served as Tutor for Historic Deerfield’s Summer Fellowship Program, and as Teaching Curator for Colonial Williamsburg. He and his research team focus principally upon southern artisans and artifacts as routes to understand that culture, and to place culturally laden regional objects with collectors and institutions, principally in the South, and to identify and articulate the layered complexities of southern culture. His current work focuses upon the ways various southern cultures imbue their objects with religious, emotional, and other cultural guideposts—with a strong focus upon English and Scottish societies, and the ways that their roots and traditions shape both the dialogue and life of modern America.
His book and exhibition American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts (Milwaukee: Chipstone Foundation and Milwaukee Art Museum, 2004) won the Historic The New England Book Prize for its “valuable contribution to the study of American and New England Culture,” and was cited in a Winterthur survey of American Curators presented at Winterthur’s 2012 Conference as “the sole paradigm shift in our field.”
RECENT PUBLICITY:
James Conaway, Sumpter Priddy III, Inc. [Dealer Profile], in “The Southern Flair of Washington, D.C.” Garden and Gun, April/May 2011.
Eleanor Gustafson, “Dealer Profile; Sumpter Priddy III”, in Antiques Magazine, May 2008.
AWARDS, HONORS:
Winner, The 2004 Historic New England Book Prize. The award cites a “significant contribution to the study of American and New England Culture” for Sumpter Priddy’s book, American Fancy: Exuberance in the Arts, 1790-1840 (Milwaukee Wisconsin: Chipstone Foundation and the Milwaukee Art Museum, 2004).
Chairman, Dealers Committee, Winter Antiques Show, Park Avenue Armory, New York, 2006-2009.
Furnishings Advisory Committee, Observatory Hill, Washington, D.C., the Vice-President’s House, 2000-2001.
Chairman, The Frank L. Horton Society, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 2008-present.
Virginia member, MESDA Advisory Board, Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 2006-2012.
MEMBERSHIPS:
Decorative Arts Chapter, Society of Architectural Historians
Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts
Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Museum of Fine Art
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Historic Deerfield
American Folk Art Museum.