Victor D'Amico

Victor D'Amico (May 19, 1904 – April 1, 1987) was an American teaching artist and the founding Director of the Department of Education of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

D’Amico explored the essence of the art experience as spiritual involvement, and the ability to communicate one's most profound ideas and emotions through aesthetic expression.

He considered that the individual's personality had to be respected and developed by providing opportunities for creative experimentation.

D'Amico's philosophy was based on the fundamental faith in the creative potential in every man, woman and child.

He believed "that the arts are a humanizing force and their major function is to vitalize the living."

Recognizing learning as a process that is unique in each individual, D'Amico embraced the different ways in which each person's experience, ability and perception require a different approach to teaching.

Teaching by this informal process, according to D'Amico, meant that the teacher must be constantly sensitive to the needs of each individual so as to stimulate and satisfy emerging interests.

Victor D'Amico was not only a remarkable artist and teacher, but also a visionary and pioneer of modern art education.

Victor D’Amico was born on May 19, 1904, in New York City.

D’Amico was one of the eleven children (seven boys and four girls) born to Concetta Paula (Jennie) Vitale and Domenico Emilio D’Amico.

Victor D’Amico's mother and father were born in Italy.

Concetta arrived to the United States when she was one year old while Domenico emigrated to the United States when he was nineteen.

Victor D’Amico spent his childhood in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx (New York City); and Cuyahoga in Cleveland (Ohio).

Victor attended the Cooper Union, studying fine arts, illustration, and costume design (1920–1922); Pratt Institute, studying art education (1924–1926) and Teachers College Columbia University (1926–1930) where he earned his B. S. and M.S. D’Amico also studied and worked with Norman Bel Geddes (1928–29).

While studying at Teachers’ College, D’Amico was hired as art teacher and Head of the Art Department of the Fieldston Schools, Riverdale, NYC from 1926 to 1948.

While teaching art education at Teachers College Columbia University in the 1930s, D’Amico met Mabel Birckhead, a bright student and a fine artist teacher.

He taught art education at Teachers College, Columbia University (1932, 1934–42), Black Mountain College (1944), the New York University (1965–72) and Southampton College (1969).

While working at Fieldston, D’Amico joined MoMA part-time as director of the Educational Project in 1937.

In 1945 they got married.

Victor and Mabel D’Amico lived in the house they built in Lazy Point, Amagansett.

In 1948 D’Amico started working full-time at MoMA as Director of the Education Department and remained in the post until he retired in 1969.

At MoMA, D’Amico created and directed the Young People's Gallery, the Children's Art Carnival (in New York, Italy, Spain, Belgium, India and Harlem), the Committee on Art Education, the Veterans Art Center, The People's Art Center and the Napeague Institute of Art Best known as the Art Barge.

D’Amico also produced Through the Enchanted Gate, a NBC television program presented in 1952 and 1953.

D’Amico's most significant writings include Theatre Arts, Visual Arts in General Education, Creative Teaching in Art, How to Make Pottery and Ceramic Sculpture, How to Make Modern Jewelry, How to Make Objects of Wood, Art for the Family, Experiments in Creative Art Teaching, Found Objects, Collage Kit, and The Art of Assemblage.

D’Amico authored many research papers published in different journals and lectured widely in the US and abroad.

Following D'Amico's retirement from MoMA, he taught classes for New York City Grade Teachers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC and remained as Director of the Napeague Institute of Art, later renamed the Victor D’Amico Institute of Art, a non-profit art education organization on eastern Long Island.

He received the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Fine Arts by the Philadelphia Museum College of Art on June 8, 1964, and received a Citation of Merit by the State University of New York at Buffalo, April 13, 1964.

Victor D’Amico combined his museum and school work with university and college teaching.

D'Amico was granted the Medal of Honor by The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C. for Outstanding Service in the Field of Art Education on March 17, 1966.

Victor D’Amico died on April 1, 1987, in Amagansett, New York, at the age of 82.

D’Amico believed that developing an aesthetic vision and art practice was both personally and collectively enriching, as it allows for a greater appreciation of the natural and built world.

Regardless of artistic talent, D’Amico considered that creativity is intrinsic to every individual and should be fostered through art education

D’Amico stressed the importance of discouraging imitation and supporting individual expression.

By challenging accepted norms and encouraging unconventional perspectives, D’Amico argued that the value of art making far surpassed that of the final product.

It was the process and experience of interacting with art itself that inspired new thought.

D’Amico therefore dedicated his life to the creation of programs that allowed children and adults to explore their creative potential and heighten their sensitivity to the artistic potential in everyday life.

The study of modern art was central to D’Amico's educational philosophy.

He believed that lived experience was intrinsically linked to modern art.

A student's physical environment therefore held an important role in their educational development.

D’Amico stressed that through art making, a student would be introduced to elements of design: color, shape and composition that would emerge in everyday objects.