Seymour Howard Obituary

Howard, Seymour Beloved professor and art historian Seymour Howard died peacefully in Davis, CA on August 4, 2018, after a long fight with Alzheimer's and Lewy Body dementia. Seymour was born in Chicago on January 20, 1928. Raised in a Jewish immigrant family, Yiddish was spoken at home. He earned a Ph.D in art history from the University of Chicago in 1958. The same year, he married Ilia Goebel and accepted a teaching position at the University of California, Davis. Seymour and Ilia were married for 53 years before her death in September 2012. The couple raised two daughters, Catherine and Sarah. Seymour was one of the most revered teachers at UC Davis; inspiring generations of artists and art historians, receiving praise from intellectual giants such as Ernest Gombrich and Vincent Scully. Scully called Seymour a "Superman" in his field. He is survived by his two daughters, his work, and thousands of students whose lives were changed by his brilliant teaching. He will be missed by all who knew him. The UCD Art History Department website says "Seymour Howard's research interests included Classical art and its afterlife; restoration and fabrication of ancient sculpture; major issues of forms, dynamics and meanings in art history, theory, criticism, psychology and perception. He lectured widely at international, national, and sectional archaeological and at art historical congresses and museums, including the Louvre, British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, the Hermitage, the National Gallery, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, as well as major universities in the United States and abroad. He also created paintings, posters, ceramics, and sculpture in various media which he exhibited nationally and internationally since 1952. His publications include: Art and Imago: Essays on Art as a Species of Autobiography (London: Pindar Press, 1997) "Some Eighteenth-Century 'Restored' Boxers" in Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, ed. G. H. Gombrich. 56 (1993) pp. 238-255 "The Revival of Ancient Archaic Art in the Late Eighteenth Century and the Use of Archaising Postures and Modes in Drama and Living Sculpture" in Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, Vol. 192, Blake, No. 1900 (1980) A Classical Frieze by Jacques Louis David: Sacrifice of the Hero: the Roman Years (Sacramento, Calif.: Crocker Art Museum, 1975) "An Antiquarian Handlist and Beginnings of the Pio-Clementino" in Eighteenth-Century Studies, No. 7 (1973) "The Lansdowne Bust of the Athena of Velletri" in Bulletin of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Vol. 17, No. 1 (1965)" A celebration of Seymour Howard's life and work will be held at the Davis Senior Center, 646 A Street, Davis, CA, January 13, 2018, from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m. If you would like to speak or have your thoughts about Seymour shared that day, please send your message to [email protected] Please join us.