Obituary of Arthur Wheen
Arthur Wheen (1897–1971) was an art historian and translator who joined the Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum (now the National Art Library) in 1924. He became Keeper in 1939 and increased the Library’s collections by tracking down publications in East European and Oriental languages, especially Chinese and Japanese.
From The Times, 19 March 1971
Keeper of the V&A Library
The death on Monday of Arthur Wheen, Keeper of the Library of the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1939 until 1962, will have saddened all who knew that brilliant but self-effacing man. He was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1897 and came to Europe in 1915 at the age of eighteen with the Australian Expeditionary Force. In 1920, after demobilization, he went up to New College, Oxford. He joined the Library of the Museum in January, 1924. To his work there he brought the resources of an unusually sensitive and original mind - an extraordinary gift for languages (his German was remarkable), a wide knowledge of English and foreign literature both classic and modern, and above all an inquiring, receptive intelligence that felt with penetrating tact the interest of any subject brought within its range. His innate aesthetic feeling enabled him to respond to works of art of every age and degree; he was as sensitive in his appreciation of Oriental and primitive as of European art. He was naturally in sympathy with modern art and artists - a colleague once remarked that he had collected for the library every scrap ever printed about Picasso - and for a time had close connexions with a circle which included Herbert Read and T S Eliot. It is perhaps not generally realized how much the National Art library owes to the breadth of his knowledge and understanding. He bought not only the obvious current books but tracked down publications in East European and Oriental languages, especially Chinese and Japanese, that would have escaped an eye less quick and learned. The collection of illustrated books was enriched by many famous 'livres d'artiste' from the great years of the genre and he also added considerably to the section on aesthetics and the philosophy of art, subjects which he considered insufficiently studied in England.
To the wider public he was known for his literary work, concentrated in the years 1929-34. He translated a number of novels describing the reactions of German soldiers in The Great War, notably Erich Maria Remarque's 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (1929), a book that has become a classic in his version. In 1929 he published his only original work, 'Two Masters', a brief novella founded on a unique episode in his life at the front. It should be recorded that he was awarded the MM for bravery. In later years he gave most of himself in conversation and to the literary efforts of his friends and colleagues. His own standards were exceedingly high but he was always ready to read and criticize - with point, knowledge and humanity - what others had written. In conversation his expressive face and the quick sparkle of his eye made doubly delightful both his listening - and he was an exceptional listener - and the unexpected twist of his verbal fancy. Those who knew and loved him will remember him as a man of great sweetness of nature, kindness and generosity of heart.
Reproduced with kind permission of The Times
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