Obituary of Donald King

Donald King, former Keeper of the Department of Textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum, died on July 10 aged 77. He was born on October 13, 1920.

Donald King was a distinguished medievalist who spent more than 30 years as a curator in the Department of Textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum. From 1949 to 1972 he was Assistant and then Deputy Keeper, waiting in the wings until the retirement of George Wingfield Digby, who was Keeper of the department for many years until 1972. King then attained the keepership, which he held until his retirement in 1980.

Donald King was born at Hanwell in Middlesex and educated in Ealing and Brentford. He was called up in 1941 and became an officer in the intelligence division of the Air Ministry, a posting to which he was admirably suited, having a logical mind, photographic memory and the ability to work with speed and efficiency. His spell in intelligence gave him the opportunity to widen his knowledge from two to seven languages. After the war, with an ex-serviceman's grant, he took a first at the Courtauld Institute of Art, from where he joined the V&A.

When he finally became Keeper in 1972, he presided over the department with a less remote presence than his predecessors. The ease, elegance and coherence with which he illuminated what appeared to others the most abstruse and complicated subjects relating to the study of early textiles was breathtaking. His lectures were a pleasure to listen to and invariably included new insights. Although he treated his chosen field with constant enthusiasm and academic rigour, he had a humorous side, and when presented with a Festschrift in 1989 he said with a twinkle in his eye: 'This will make good bedtime reading'.

Although he probably remains best known for his work on the early periods and on carpets, his research covered a wide range of textiles, and helped to boost the subject's academic standing. This was greatly assisted by his recognition of the significance of technical analysis, as well as pattern and style, in establishing dates and provenances. To this end he had studied at the first two technical courses set up by the Centre International d'Etude des Textiles Anciens (Cieta) in Lyons in 1956 and 1957.

King's achievements included the organisation of an outstanding display of medieval English embroidery (Opus Anglicanum) in 1963, for which he managed, with his customary diplomatic skill, to persuade institutions including the Vatican and all the leading European museums to lend their most important pieces. It is difficult to imagine such a collection ever being brought together again. His catalogues included those for 'English Romanesque Art 1066-1200' at the Hayward Gallery (1984) and 'The Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantaganet England' at the Royal Academy (1981). His contribution to the study of carpets included co-curating and writing for the catalogue of the exhibition 'The Eastern Carpet in the Western World' (1983) and several articles in Hall magazine, including one on the inventories of the carpets of Henry VIII in 1983.

In the field of acquisitions, King was a major player. This was helped by his network of contacts and excellent relations with dealers and scholars. He acquired a large collection of early Egyptian textiles (late antique) from University College in the 1970s, a few years after the beautiful medieval embroidered Erpingham chasuble. His important tapestry acquisitions included the 16th century Italian 'Life of Man' tapestry, subsequently found to have been designed by Giorgio Vasari.

In 1979, King acquired an important group of medieval silks found in Iran in about 1925. In 1987 he wrote an article about these and other textiles genuinely from that site and about the numerous faked pieces purporting to be from there which had been sold to the most reputable institutions. His article adds a postscript to a controversy which had raged in the textile world for some years.

King became president of Cieta in 1977 and presided over the biennial conferences with efficiency and good humour, switching from one language to another with complete ease. His wife Monique was always at his side. She had been a curator at the Cluny Museum and worked with him on research and publications. He remained active in the textile world for many years in retirement, although eventually suffering from Parkinson's disease. His contributions to textile studies and his erudition and wit will be long remembered.

He is survived by his wife, Monique, their son and daughter and by the daughter of his first marriage, which was dissolved.

Reproduced with kind permission of The Times
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From The Daily Telegraph, 21 July 1998

Keeper who added to the textile collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum and discovered 'medieval' fakes
Donald King, who has died aged 77, was a mainstay of the Department of Textiles at the Victoria & Albert Museum for 30 years.

Appointed Assistant Keeper in 1949, King joined a museum disrupted by the war. To its reformation he brought, besides First Class Honours in Art History from the Courtauld Institute, a formidable memory, a discerning eye, a logical mind, a gift for languages and considerable powers of diplomacy and tact. He had also gained valuable experience from having been seconded, between 1945 and 1947, to the Monuments and Fine Arts Branch of the Control Commission for Germany.

Though he found little opportunity for promotion in Textiles - his predecessor as Keeper, George Wingfield Digby, appointed in 1947 did not retire until 1972 - King stayed with the department. He devoted his administrative skills to its efficient running and his intellect to research that both advanced scholarship and enhanced public appreciation of textiles.

He was also able to enrich the museum with some particularly fine acquisitions, such as the Erpingham Chasuble and the Mortlake Tapestry. The latter, from a set made for Charles I when Prince of Wales, was brought back to London from America through King's initiative.

Of the exhibitions which he organized, the palm must go to the superb display of medieval English embroidery, 'Opus Anglicanum', which he assembled at the Victoria and Albert in 1963. He also contributed to two Arts Council exhibitions: 'The Arts of Islam' (1976) and 'The Eastern Carpet in the Western World', which he curated with David Sylvester in 1983.

When King finally succeeded to the Keepership in 1972, his tenure lasted only eight years because of Civil Service regulations on retirement. Fittingly, though, 'British Textile Design in the Victoria and Albert Museum', a handsome three-volume work edited by King and written by him and his staff, appeared in 1980. It was a handsome tribute to the standards and team work he had inspired. It has been republished in a series of best-selling paperbacks.

Donald Beeson King was born at Hanwell, Middlesex on October 13, 1920. He went to school at Brentford and Ealing, after which he studied for a BA in Modern Languages and Latin. In 1941 he joined the RAF and worked as an officer in the Intelligence Division of the Air Ministry, an experience which enabled him to add a working knowledge of five more languages to his fluent French and German.

After the war, profiting from a grant given to ex-servicemen, King gained his First Class degree from the Courtauld. This was supplemented by study of textiles, including a technical course at the Centre International d'Etude des Textiles Anciens (Cieta) in Lyons.

Cieta was of great importance in the lives of Donald King and his second wife Monique, who before her marriage had been a curator at the Cluny Museum in Paris. In due course both the Kings served on Cieta's directing council: Monique became editor of the society's publications and Donald was elected President in 1977, the year in which he hosted the Cieta conference in London.

As a scholar, Donald King wrote meticulously researched articles which broke new ground in the study of late antique and medieval textiles. In 'Pantheon' (1962) he exposed a group of faked 'medieval' printed textiles that had found their way into almost every textile collection in Europe and America. In the 1950s his contributions to 'The Connoisseur Period Guides' showed his concern to reach a wider public.

The extent of his prodigious output, culminating in a catalogue of Western textiles in the Keir Collection, 400 BC to AD 1800, is listed in a 'Festschrift' published in his honour in 1989 by the Pasold Research Fund in Textile History.

The onset of Parkinson's Disease forced King to resign as President of Cieta in 1992, though he remained active in that society. His wit, charm and consideration were valued by all who worked with him.

By his first marriage, which was dissolved, Donald King had a daughter. He married Monique Toury in 1957; they had a son and a daughter.

Reproduced with kind permission of The Telegraph
© The Telegraph

From The Independent, 18 July 1998

Donald King was a medieval scholar of rare distinction but also a brilliant curator with a firm view of what that profession meant. He spent 32 years in the Department of Textiles at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the last eight of them as Keeper.

He was born in Hanwell, Middlesex, in 1920, educated at Ealing County School for Boys, and joined the Ministry of Education as a young man. War had started and he was then called up, serving in a variety of Intelligence posts ending with the Monuments and Fine Arts Branch of the Control Commission for Germany - proving to be a superb linguist with a particularly good knowledge of French and German - and gaining a foundation knowledge of the care of works of art.

Post-war, on a grant given to ex-servicemen, he went to the Courtauld Institute of Art, gaining a First in the History of Art. Late in 1948 he entered an open competition for an Assistant Keepership at the V & A, joining the Textiles Department. In due course he was promoted to Deputy Keeper and finally to Keeper in 1972, a post he held until his retirement - civil servants leave at 60, whatever their talents.

In his early years at the museum he helped the then Keeper, George Wingfield Digby, to re-establish the department, re-open the Study Room, and register many acquisitions. Six years of war left a great backlog of routine work which King demolished with the speed and efficiency he showed throughout his career. His visual perception and retentive photographic memory were of enormous help to his colleagues. He could quote a useful page reference several years after reading a book or article once.

He appreciated the need to understand the structure of historic textiles, for these hardly ever bear signatures and have patterns related to a wide variety of other works of art. Only after the Second World War were curators taught the analysis of ancient textiles. King attended the first two international courses for textile historians, held in 1956 and 1957 under the direction of Felix Guicherd at the Musee des Tissus in Lyons, the centre of French weaving since the 18th century.

On his second course, he was accompanied by his new wife, Monique Toury, formerly of the Cluny museum in Paris. She remained his constant companion and support, the epitome of the biblical virtuous woman.

His achievements were many, one of the most memorable being the exhibition of English medieval embroidered textiles, 'Opus Anglicanum', held in 1963 - preceded by the birth of his son two days before the opening. The assembled vestments could represent an important conference of the medieval church. It was a measure of the respect which King commanded that lenders such as the Vatican, the cathedrals of Sens, Canterbury, Comminges, Pienza and Salisbury, as well as other ecclesiastical institutions, were willing to lend such rare and fragile material. Private owners and the City livery companies also contributed and it was a splendid show. It demonstrated his quiet efficiency, no wasted time or resources.

Donald King was a man of wide-ranging scholarship, a superb lecturer able to convey his own love and appreciation of the arts to diverse audiences. Renaissance embroideries, tapestries, medieval silks, Oriental carpets, fakes, he wrote cogently about them all. His texts were elegant and stylish, with no unnecessary facts. (Who but he could write an important two-page minute in beautiful handwriting without needing to cross out one comma?)

In his reign at the V & A, the museum acquired at his prompting some beautiful and important pieces such as a Venetian embroidered altar frontal, designed in the workshop of Paolo Veneziano; the tapestry 'The Life of Man', later found to have been designed by Giorgio Vasari; and a large collection of late Antique textiles acquired from University College London. A 1989 issue of the periodical 'Textile History' devoted to him publishes a complete list of them. He tracked down and re-attributed a number, to the great and enduring benefit of the taxpayer. Several are on exhibition but, while they bear museum numbers and attributions, his part is never revealed on the label.

King never forgot a national museum's real audience but never condescended either. Urbane, tactful, approachable and friendly, but good fun, with a dry wit, he was also someone who had a grasp of strategy as well as tactics.

He became the President of the Centre Internationale des Etudes Anciens in 1977, but had to relinquish the post when illness began to interfere with his duties. He was a popular President, well able to soothe ruffled feathers of different nationalities.

He suffered from Parkinson's disease at the end. 'A long illness bravely borne' is the conventional description of those unfortunate enough to succumb to an illness such as Parkinson's, but this trite phrase does not express the tenacity with which Donald King continued to work long after the diagnosis, nor his wit and cheerfulness which remained undiminished for many years afterwards.

Reproduced with kind permission of Mulk Raj Anand and The Independent
© The Independent