Andrew Carnduff Ritchie (1907-1978) was a museum director, professor, and art historian based in New York and Connecticut. He served as director of the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., director of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, and director of the Yale University Art Gallery.
Andrew Carnduff Ritchie was born in Bellshill, Scotland, in 1907 the first child, to Andrew and Jeanie Gilchrist Ritchie. The family immigrated to the United States.
At the age of 15 he sailed alone on the ship'Saturnia to America', the manifest 0021, father (also called Andrew), c/o Fletcher 541 Hawkins Av North Braddock P.A. His family may of travelled to the USA at another period in time. He arrived at Ellis Island on 17 Feb 1923, and settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pittsburgh and received a bachelor's and master of arts degrees in medieval art, and his doctoral degree from the University of London in 1935. That same year, he married Jane Thompson in New York.
From 1935 to 1942, Ritchie was a researcher and lecturer at the Frick Collection in New York City and faculty member at New York University, as well as a visiting lecturer at John Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
In 1942, Ritchie was appointed director of the Albright Knox Gallery in Buffalo, New York where he stayed until 1949 when he became the director of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art.
In 1945-1946, directly following World War II, Ritchie served with the U.S. Army's "Monuments Men"a civilian position with the rank of Colonel, Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives section in Austria and helped with the restitution of art looted by the Nazis, returning paintings and cultural artifacts back to their country of origin
He was responsible for the return of the priceless Czernin Vermeer, The Artist’s Studio, The painting was rescued from a salt mine near Altaussee at the end of World War II in 1945, where it was preserved from Allied bombing raids, with other works of art. The painting was escorted to Vienna from Munich by Andrew Ritchie, chief of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFA&A) for Austria, He protected the painting from being claimed as one of the “202” German-owned works which were transferred to the United States much to the dismay of MFAA officials. “locked himself in a sleeping compartment with the picture and a splendid picnic of pheasant and Burgandy supplied by a French colleague.” As the MFAA officer in charge of Austria and her restitutions, he also arranged on January 4, 1946 transport for the Holy Roman regalia from Nuremberg to Vienna by way of a commandeered C-47. He was later honored by France and the Netherlands, for this work.he received the Cross of the French Legion of Honor.
In 1957, Ritchie accepted the postion of director of the Yale University Art Gallery where he stayed until 1971. While there, he acquired notable works of art for the Gallery's collections by David Smith, Noguchi, and Maillol. Thanks to Ritchie's efforts and guidance, art collector and patron Paul Mellon donated his collection of British art and established the Yale Center for British Studies. In 1971, Ritchie also became the Clark Professor at Williams College, Massachusetts, and, in 1972, he was a visiting professor at the University of Sydney, Australia. Ritchie retired from Yale in 1973.
Ritchie was also awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Pittsburgh and the Royal College of Art in London. He wrote several books over the course of his career.
Andrew passed away in Canaan, Connecticut, on the 12 Aug 1978, his wife Jane passed away in 1986.
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