Robert Tyler Davis

{{short description|American art historian}}

{{notability|Bio|date=February 2018}}

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|name = Robert Tyler Davis

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|birth_date = 1904

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|death_date = 1978

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|nationality = American

|alma_mater = Harvard University (AB, AM)https://sova.si.edu/record/sia.faru7439

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Robert Tyler Davis (1904–1978) was an American art historian, writer and educator.[http://siarchives.si.edu/collections/siris_arc_217594 Robert Tyler Davis] at the SIA archives. During his lifetime, Davis occupied high ranking positions in several museums and galleries in the United States and Canada. He was Director of Education at the Albright-Knox Gallery, Director at the Portland Art Museum,{{Cite book|last=Lampen|first=Sarah|url=https://issuu.com/portlandartmuseum/docs/pam_historyofengagement|title=A History of Engagement: The Portland Art Museum|publisher=Portland Art Museum|year=2017|pages=6–7}} the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Vizcaya-Dade County Art Museum, now Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. Davis produced [https://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3ADavis%2C+Robert+Tyler&dblist=638&fq=ap%3A%22davis%2C+robert+tyler%22&qt=facet_ap%3A several publications] including the book [https://www.worldcat.org/title/native-arts-of-the-pacific-northwest-frorn-the-rasmussen-collection-of-the-portland-art-museum/ Native arts of the Pacific Northwest.]

During his tenure at the Albright-Knox Gallery, Davis produced a report funded titled [https://www.worldcat.org/title/art-museum-and-the-secondary-school/ The Art Museum and the Secondary School], it is in this report that the first documented occurrence of the term "visual literacy" is recorded in literature.{{Cite journal|last1=Peña|first1=Ernesto|last2=Dobson|first2=Teresa M.|date=2021-03-23|title=The lost years of visual literacy|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1051144X.2021.1902043|journal=Journal of Visual Literacy|volume=40|pages=1–14|doi=10.1080/1051144X.2021.1902043|s2cid=233622183|issn=1051-144X}}