Walter Scott Perry Papers

Walter Scott Perry, the first Director of Pratt Institute’s School of Fine and Applied Arts, was born in Massachusetts in 1855. He attended the Massachusetts Normal Art School in Boston, and was a student of Theodore Langerfeldt and Pierre Millet. He also studied in Europe, Egypt, India, China, and Japan. From 1875 until 1879 he was supervisor of drawing for the public schools of Fall River, Massachusetts, and from 1879 until 1887 served as supervisor of drawing and art education for the Worcester, Massachusetts public schools. During this period he caught attention of Charles Pratt, who around 1886 offered him the position of Director of the Art Department at Pratt Institute, which was still in the planning stage. Perry accepted, and worked closely with Pratt both before and after the Institute’s opening in 1887, advising him on numerous issues and serving as a sounding board for Pratt’s ideas. He began with only twelve students, but upon his retirement in 1928, the department had become the School of Fine and Applied Arts, with more than 1,500 students and approximately 3,500 graduates, and providing programs in such disciplines as art, architecture, interior design, teacher training, and fashion. It was Perry’s vision and views as an art educator that provided direction for the growth of the art programs at Pratt during the school’s formative years, though his views sometimes clashed with the founder’s son and successor, Frederic Bayley Pratt. In addition to his work at the Institute, Perry was active professionally. He lectured frequently on art, architecture, and sculpture, served as an associate editor at the Prang Educational Company, and wrote numerous articles and books on Egyptian art, art education in public schools, and reminiscences on Charles Pratt and the early years of the Institute. During his career Perry was an organizer of the American Federation of Arts and the National Summer School of Methods, director of the Art Alliance of America, president of the Eastern Arts Association, and a member of the Rembrandt Club, the National Arts Club, and the Western Drawing and Manual Training Association. In 1905 he was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from St. Lawrence University. Perry died in 1934.

Source: Art Alumni News, April 1928, page 3; Obituary, New York Times, 24 August 1934, page 16.