Dr. John Hutton grew up in Pound Ridge, NY. He came to Salem because he wanted to work in a small school that valued teaching, and it was an added bonus that his wife was from Virginia and she was eager to come back to this part of the country.
He believes in the importance of a women’s education because a college like Salem allows women to grow more effectively than coed institutions generally do.
Dr. Hutton received one of his masters degrees from the University of London, Courtauld Institute of Art, where he lived for a year. He has traveled in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands while doing research.
Dr. Hutton focuses on Northern Renaissance and Baroque Art along with the history of illustrated children’s books. He has published a few articles, but mostly it has been children’s books! These include the Sister Maus books for Salem, and also several projects for a small publisher in New York named Thornwillow Press. He has also designed stationery for Cartier, New York, and Montblanc.
At Salem, Dr. Hutton is one part of a small but comprehensive art history department that offers a range of courses that prepare students for graduate study or jobs in arts organization or any other field for that matter. He believes it is always nice to have beautiful and interesting things in mind, whatever you do!
In his free time, Dr. Hutton likes to draw, paint, and take long walks. He has a wife and three children. His wife, Kathleen, is Curator of Education of Reynolda House Museum of American Art in Winston-Salem. They have a daughter, Beatrix, who is an art history student at Duke and twin sons, Johnny and Willy, who are in high school. The family also includes two dogs and a hamster.
Favorite Quote:
“Als Ich Chan” meaning “I do the best I can” by Jan van Eyck, a fifteenth century Flemish painter.
Favorite Book:
Most of his favorite books are from nineteenth-century authors like Dickens and George Eliot, however, he also loves all sorts of children’s books, especially old ones. Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows are special favorites.