JOHN FREDERICK PHYSICK (1923‐2013)
In his later years, John was a revered presence in various cultural bodies where his eminence as an expert on English architecture and sculpture was recognised. At various times he was President of the Church Monuments Society, Vice-‐President of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association, on the committee of management of the Gunnis Dictionary of British Sculptors, chairman of the Monuments Sub-‐ Committee of the Council for the Care of Churches, on the church advisory committee of the diocese of Rochester (1964-‐1991), on advisory committees for the cathedrals of Rochester, Canterbury and Guildford, and on the Westminster Abbey Architectural Advisory Panel. He was awarded an Honorary degree of DLitt by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1996 and elected a Fellow of the RSA in 1984. He attended Battersea Grammar School. When World War II broke out he left school and volunteered for the Navy and served in the Mediterranean. He missed out on a university education and so in peacetime, he was unsure what direction to take. John obtained the position of Museum Assistant, the basic entry level for those without social or academic prestige, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1948. From here onwards his life was devoted to this institution (though he did continue his links with the services through volunteer reserve organisations).
The origins of the V&A were in an educational agency called the Department of Science and Art. Charged with fostering vocational education, this had little to do with the universities. So curators at the South Kensington Museum (as it was then called) usually learned on the job. By the early twentieth century most of the senior curators were Oxbridge graduates. It nonetheless remained possible for non-‐graduates to rise through the ranks, despite a structural division in the staff between upper and lower ranks. In Civil Service terms (and the V&A was part of the Civil Service up to 1983) the division was between “administrative” and “executive” grades. The careers of John, and a very few others, showed that it was still possible after World War II for non-‐graduates to rise by merit from the bottom to the top. The secret of John’s success lay in his efficiency – which was obvious when you met him –, and in his unusual adaptability – which was often concealed behind an old-‐fashioned conservative manner.
John started work in the Department of Engraving, Illustration and Design, achieving promotion in 1949 to a post as Research Assistant in the Library, from which he transferred back to EID in 1950. His job here was to help catalogue the collections. He recalled how the chief cataloguer would spend many hours discussing the philosophical intricacies of cataloguing with advisers, to the extent that a considerable backlog built up. When the chief cataloguer fell ill, a new head of department, Graham Reynolds, gave John the task of eliminating the backlog, which he speedily did, thus establishing a reputation as man who got things done. He also built up scholarly expertise, seizing the opportunities which a great learned institution like the V&A can offer: his catalogue of the V&A’s holdings of The Engraved Work of Eric Gill was published by the museum in 1963, publication being a privilege not often accorded then to junior members of staff.
John broke through the invisible Civil Service barrier between executive and administrative grades in 1967, when he was promoted to Assistant Keeper in the Department of Public Relations. The V&A was unusual in those days in having a public relations department which was run by the visionary and eccentric Charles Gibbs-‐Smith, who, while an intensely inspirational leader, needed efficient staff to function. Most of the V&A’s curatorial departments operated almost as closed societies, dedicated to their own discipline and little inclined to co-‐ operate with others. The Public Relations department, however, worked with everyone, and spoke for the whole museum. So here John established himself as a museum-‐wide influence, close to the centres of power. It was widely expected that he would be Gibbs-‐Smith’s successor, but the Director, John Pope-‐Hennessy, brought in a younger outsider and sidelined John. John was mortified by this reverse, but did not allow it to inhibit his adaptability and efficiency. He was for a time in charge of Museum Services, overseeing the work of printers, joiners, and photographers, thus consolidating a web of respect and friendship at all levels in the museum. He was soon back at the centre as an assistant to the Director, from which he rose to become Deputy Director.
The fact that he was a necessary support to two very different Directors speaks volumes for his intelligence and adaptability. John Pope-‐Hennessy was a domineering personality, with an awesome mastery of traditional art history; Roy Strong, his successor, was more impulsive and emotional, with a volatile appreciation of the cultural trends of the moment. John served them both with clear-‐sighted shrewdness, exercising his influence for good when and where he could, and never painting himself into corners. Although many saw him as a representative of traditional museum values (his rather reserved and stately manner might have encouraged this), he well understood that the institution must change to survive, and in many tactful maneuvers eased its transition into a new world.
Although John’s career was chiefly in administration, he took care to establish and maintain an academic reputation, especially in the fields of architectural drawings and English sculpture. He was much concerned with the architecture of the V&A’s own building. While the V&A was part of the Civil Service (until 1983), the building was run by the Department of the Environment, and John, as the museum’s liaison with the DOE, was in a position to smooth another transition. The DOE was rather unsympathetic to Victorian architecture (in Pope-‐Hennessy’s time covering the mosaic floors with linoleum), but Roy Strong set about restoring the Victorian architecture, with John urging him on. John’s book on the V&A building was published in 1982, and its initial more detailed version earned him a PhD from the Royal College of Art. He was
instrumental in setting up a joint MA course with the RCA in the history of the decorative arts, which sparked off an intellectual revival in the V&A.
John was shaped by the institution which he served, but, much more than most of its servants at the time, he himself shaped the institution as it proceeded into the late twentieth century.
Anthony Burton former V&A Curator