Roberts, Laurance P.

Laurance P. Roberts, Curator Eastern Art.
Larry Roberts died Mar. 10, 2002, of a heart attack. He was 95. He was an internationally known Asian art scholar who had been director of the American Academy in Rome. Following a brief stay at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Larry moved to Beijing to study Chinese art and language. In 1934 he became curator of Asian art at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and in 1938 was named director of the museum. While at the museum, he met and married Isabel Spaulding. While he served in Army intelligence during WWII, Isabel served as director of the museum. After the war, he resigned from the museum to become director of the American Academy in Rome. The academy became a great center for literary and well-known Americans in the cultural world. In 1960 he resigned from the Academy and joined with Gov. Nelson Rockefeller in establishing the New York State Council of the Arts. The Roberts' made Venice their home while he traveled frequently to Japan. They finally settled in Baltimore, where he lived out his days.