Imagine holding a priceless 2,000-year-old statue from the Indus Valley in the palm of your hand or drinking Coke out of a Greek kylix from the 4th century B.C.
Gillet Griffin, curator of the University's pre-Columbian art collection, employs this extraordinary hands-on approach to studying and teaching his students about art.
"He induces a method to art that one would never encounter anywhere else," said Nicola Knipe, assistant editor of the Princeton Art Museum.
For 37 years, Griffin has enthusiastically shared his passion for art with colleagues and student at Princeton as a painter, collector and teacher without a Ph.D.
Griffin, who will retire at the end of the semester, reflected, "I am so lucky to be at Princeton and have led a truly magical life."
A Series of Hobbies
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1928, Griffin enjoys history, art, book collecting, classical music and exploring the natural world. While enrolled at Deerfield Academy in Mass., Griffin fell in love with the history and landscape of the small farming town.
"I was probably the only child fascinated by the town's history, houses and furniture," he said.
Griffin thought he wanted to be a painter and entered the Yale School of Fine Arts in 1947 to study painting and graphic design. He developed an interest in children's books printed before 1850 and collected nearly 800 of them, many of which were only copies.
"I became interested in the art of a book — the paper, type and illustrations," he said.
The first Yale student to major in graphic arts, he returned to New Haven after graduation and embarked on an intriguing venture: writing, illustrating and printing a children's book, "A Mouse's Tale."
"I remembered my mother told me a story about mice in the attic and one mouse misbehaved. So I wrote it all out, illustrated it and printed it," he said.
His first book was a success. The American Institute of Graphic Arts honored "A Mouse's Tale" as one of the nation's 50 best-designed books of the year.
From Yale to Princeton
Familiar with Griffin's work and enthusiasm, Yale University Press designer Alvin Eisenman informed Griffin that Elmer Adler, curator of graphic design at Princeton University Library, was retiring and looking for a replacement.
Although Griffin's father wanted him to continue the family shoe business, he accepted the job. In July 1952, Griffin settled comfortably into his antiques-filled office in Firestone Library.
"My job was to add to Adler's collection as well as to prepare exhibitions and get people interested in books, collecting and prints," he said.
In addition, Griffin taught noncredit courses on the printing press and the history of the book.
"I finished Yale on Sunday and started at Princeton on Monday," he laughed. Working in the library for 14 years, Griffin said he felt like "a child going into an attic full of toys every day."
Friendship with Einstein
At the library, Griffin developed a close friendship with map curator Hanna Fantova, Albert Einstein's last girlfriend.
"Einstein would call Hanna every day at the library," Griffin said. It was not long before Einstein's stepdaughter Margot, who regularly visited the library, invited Griffin to dinner at Einstein's house.
"I thought 'What do I say to the greatest man of the millennium?' The answer is nothing! Just listen," he said. Griffin would soon be considered part of the Einstein family and gave the famed scientist a record of a Bach cantata at his 75th birthday celebration in an apartment overlooking Palmer Square.
"Einstein was a charming person. He liked to play with that little toy in which you have to get tiny balls into the holes," Griffin said.
Griffin and Einstein shared the same favorite composers, Vivaldi and Bach, and also talked about American politics and the dark hours of McCarthyism.
"Although the McCarthy era was a time not noted for humor, Einstein once brought out a book of Daumier cartoons," Griffin said. "He said he had come to America because Americans have a national sense of humor."
Founding 185 Nassau Street
Although Griffin cherished his work, he was dismayed at the absence of a creative arts outlet for undergraduates. In 1966, he wrote an eight-page letter to President William Goheen about the need for a visual arts program.
"Eventually, Goheen allocated one million dollars and the building at 185 Nassau Street for creative and graphic arts classes," Griffin said.
However, the University's continuous debate over whether the new visual arts courses could be taken for credit caused Griffin to relinquish his library position and travel to Mexico for a year and half of painting, exploring and writing.
In Mexico, Griffin developed his expertise on Pre-Columbian art and was the co-discoverer of Olmec paintings dating back to 1000 B.C. Since then, Griffin has donated many pieces of pre-Columbian art to the Princeton Art Museum.
"Because of Gillet, Princeton has been a draw to scholars and collectors with an interest in pre-Columbian art. Without Gillet, our collection would not be of the stature that it is now," Jill Guthrie, managing editor of the Princeton Art Museum, said.
University curator
Despite the lure of ancient treasures, Griffin returned to Princeton in 1967 as Curator of Pre-Columbian and Primitive Art at the University Museum and an art and archaeology teacher.
"Such an opportunity to teach without a degree would never be allowed today. I was extremely privileged and pleased at the offer," Griffin said.
In his classes on pre-Columbian and ancient American art, Griffin never presents the same material twice, spending between five and seven hours preparing slides for each lecture.
"He has a wonderful sense of humor, knows everything about his field, and even gave me all sorts of slides for my thesis," Caroline Foley '04 said.
Griffin's collection includes 3,000-year-old American and Southeast Asian sculptures and pre-human tools from deserts in Egypt.
"He weaves tales about his objects that are infectious and stimulating," Guthrie said.
From his relationship with Einstein, Griffin also possesses Einstein's last pipe, a signed portrait and his sleeping mattress.
Michael Padgett, the art museum's curator of ancient art, said of Griffin, "He is a treasure of the University, and we hope he will continue to offer his counsel in the years to come."
Read More
As endowment tax looms, Princeton asks departments to make plans for ‘permanent’ budget cuts, warns of potential layoffs
Christopher Bao and Annie RupertusPrinceton asked all departments and University units to prepare “separate plans for 5 percent and 10 percent permanent budget cuts to be phased in over the next three years in a memo sent Monday. Administrators warned of layoffs as the University prepares for a potential federal endowment tax, set to be debated in Congress later this week.
Princeton asked all departments and University units to prepare “separate plans for 5 percent and 10 percent permanent budget cuts to be phased in over the next three years in a memo sent Monday. Administrators warned of layoffs as the University prepares for a potential federal endowment tax, set to be debated in Congress later this week.
Newark airport disruptions snarl student travel plans
Cynthia TorresNewark has been facing disruptions for around two weeks amid a national air traffic controller shortage, leading to delays of up to five hours for some flights. As a result, some students flying home for the summer have changed their flights.
Newark has been facing disruptions for around two weeks amid a national air traffic controller shortage, leading to delays of up to five hours for some flights. Some students flying home for the summer and may be effected by delays and some students changed their flights.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ’03 ‘plagiarized’ small portions of his senior thesis, experts say. But how serious is it?
Sena ChangA review of the senior thesis of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ’03 by The Daily Princetonian, in consultation with three plagiarism experts, found eight instances of uncredited material, sham paraphrasing, and verbatim copying. According to the experts, each passage violated Princeton’s academic integrity policies but varied in severity.
A review of the senior thesis of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ’03 by The Daily Princetonian, in consultation with three plagiarism experts, found eight instances of uncredited material, sham paraphrasing, and verbatim copying. According to the experts, each passage violated Princeton’s academic integrity policies but varied in severity.