Vern G. Swanson

Dr Vern Grosvenor Swanson, native of Central Point, Oregon, studied at Brigham Young University (BA) and the University of Utah (MA). He received his doctorate at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. Swanson has worked at the National Gallery, Washington, D.C. and is a former associate professor of art history at Auburn University, Alabama. Since 1970 he has been researching, authenticating and cataloguing British and Continental, classical and academic paintings. He was Museum Director of Springville Museum of Art, Utah for 32 years until his retirement in 2012. His authored publications include J.W. Godward: The Eclipse of Classicism, as well as two major books on Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, six books on Russian and Soviet art, and five books on Utah painting and sculpture, and several other topics. He is married to Judy Nielson Swanson and they have two daughters, Amber and Angela.