Royal Ontario Museum

Collections & Research Staff

Ross Fox
Associate Curator

B.A. (Honours), Art History, University of Windsor, 1972
M.A., Museology, Wayne State University, 1975
Ph.D., Art History & Archaeology, University of Missouri, 1987

Ross Fox is a decorative arts and material culture specialist who has been at the ROM since 2001. He works with furniture, silver, ceramics and sculpture that were either made in Canada or have a long history here, and with historical artifacts associated with outstanding persons or events in Canadian history. Though primarily a Canadianist, he also has extensive experience with the fine and decorative arts of Europe and the United States, particularly of the 18th and 19th centuries. Previously he was associated with the Mead Art Museum (Amherst College, Massachusetts), Art Gallery of Hamilton (Ontario), National Gallery of Canada, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Fox was the curatorial interpreter and developer of the decorative arts exhibits in the Sigmund Samuel Gallery of Canada, which opened in October 2007, as part of the ROM’s building expansion. Currently he is writing a book on Canadian silver. Among other research projects are: furniture of Lower Canada (Quebec) 1763-1837; Loyalist and early American artifacts in Canada; period rooms in museums; and Grand Manan Island as a topographical and symbolic landmark in landscape art.

Major publications include Quebec and Related Silver at the Detroit Institute of Arts (Wayne State University Press, 1978); Presentation Pieces and Trophies from the Henry Birks Collection of Canadian Silver (National Gallery of Canada, 1985); The Art Gallery of Hamilton: Seventy-Five Years (1914-1989) (1989); and The Canadian Painters Eleven from the McLaughlin Gallery (Amherst College, 1994). He also wrote the section on Canadian silver in Grove’s Dictionary of Art (1996).

Recent Publications

In press	"Québec's Early Furniture Heritage," in collections's catalogue of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts."
In preparation	"Three New York Chippendale Desk and Bookcases and a Mystery Resolved, with an Appendix on John Brinner, Cabinetmaker."
In preparation	"A Network of American Furniture Makers in Montreal ca. 1790-1820."
In preparation	"Alexander Johnston (c. 1715-1781), a Scottish Jacobite Exile in London as Silversmith to British Aristocracy and Colonial American Gentry."
2011	"Julius Barnard (1769-after 1820) as Peripatetic Yankee Cabinetmaker," Vermont History, 79, 1: 1-25.
2010	"English Silversmiths and Goldsmiths in Canada During the Eighteenth Century," Silver Studies (United Kingdom) 26: 69-74.
2010	Contributor to Focus Five: The Sterling Quality: British and Canadian Silver 18th-20th Century (Winnipeg Art Gallery).
2009	"Lois Etherington Betteridge, Pioneer of a Craft Revival in Canada," Silver Studies (United Kingdom) 25: 5-13.
2008	"Design, Presentation Silver and Louis-Victor Fréret (1801-1879) in London and Montreal," Material Culture Review/Revue de la culture matérielle 67: 25-43.
2008	"Pioneers of a Silver Craft in Acadia, 1700-1755," Journal of the Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society 11: 23-44.
2008	"Robert Cruickshank (1743-1809), Silversmith of London and Montreal," Silver Studies, The Journal of the Silver Society (United Kingdom) 23: 83-95.
2008	"The Beaver and the Maple Leaf: Emblematic Paradigms," in Beaver Tales: Canadian Art and Design (exhibition catalogue) (University of Toronto Art Centre), 6-13.
2006	"Pitcher Puzzle," Rotunda 38, 3: 43-44.
2006	"Early Canadian Furniture Design at its Best: A Sofa by Thomas Nisbet," The Upper Canadian 26, 3: 8-9.
2005	"Canadian Silver at the Royal Ontario Museum: Some Highlights of a Growing Collection," The Upper Canadian 25, 5: 8-9.
2005	"Silver Standard: Peerless As a Masterful Silversmith, Laurent Amiot Set the Standard for Exceptional Silversmithing in Colonial Canada," Rotunda 37, 3: 32-39.
2005	"Carl Poul Petersen," in Alastair Duncan et al., High Style: Masterworks from the Bernard and Sylvia Ostry Collection in the Royal Ontario Museum (Royal Ontario Museum), 68-69.
2004	"Luc François (Frère Luc)," in Allgemeines Kunstler-Lexikon: Die Bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Volker, Vol. 43 (Munich/Leipzig: K. G. Saur), 531-34.
2004	"The German Factor in the Arts of New France and Lower Canada (Quebec) 1713-1812," Bulletin of the Canadian Society of Decorative Arts 22, 3: 5-10.
2004	"Scandinavian Design in Canada: Recent Acquisitions of Silver by Canadian Silversmiths Carl Poul Petersen and Douglas Boyd," Rotunda 36, 3: 9-12.
2004	"Furnishing Excellence: Thomas Nisbet’s Superbly Crafted Furniture Represents the Best in Pre-Confederation Cabinetmaking," Rotunda 36, 2: 30-37.
2003	"Certifiably Canadian: Trademarks Identify Silver Service As Made in Canada," Rotunda 36, 1: 49-51.
2003	"Early Canadian Stoneware," Rotunda 35, 3: 9-11.
2003	"Tilted Silver: This Curious Item of 19th-Century Silverware Helped North Americans Keep Their Cool," Rotunda 35, 3: 49, 51.
2002	"The Remarkable Legacy of Robert Cruickshank," Rotunda 35, 2: 32-39.
2002	"Cellini Myth," Rotunda 35, 1: 45-47
2002	"The Crockery Merchant of King Street West: In 19th-Century Toronto, One Store Was Known As the Place To Buy Fine Quality Ceramics," Rotunda 35, 2: 45-46.
2001	"Rare Coffee Pot Causes a Stir: Loyalist Heirlooms with a Known Canadian Provenance are Exceedingly Rare," Rotunda 34, 1: 45-47.
2001	"An Irish Freedom Box with Canadian Associations," Journal of the Silver Society of Canada 4, 2: 17-19.