Barbara Duncan, 82; Latin American Art Historian, Collector
Barbara Doyle Duncan, 82, an art historian who was a collector, exhibitor and writer of modern Latin American art, died March 28.
A connoisseur of the field at a time when little of it was known to the U.S. art world, Duncan became interested in Latin American art when she lived in Peru. While there from 1947 to 1955, she would meet artists and purchase their work.
Duncan was responsible for organizing two important exhibitions at the Americas Society in Manhattan.
The first, in 1977, called “Recent Latin American Drawings (1969-1976): Lines of Vision,” included 100 artists. The second show, in 1985, was titled “Gloria in Excelsis: The Virgin and Angels in Viceregal Painting of Peru and Bolivia.”
She wrote two theses while pursuing a master’s degree at the Institute of Fine Arts: one on colonial Peruvian religious art and the other on painter Joaquin Torres-Garcia.
The first auction of Latin American art at Sotheby’s, which Duncan helped plan in 1979, gave the art a wider exposure to the public.
Her collection was donated to what is now the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas.
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