Joseph Paul Gardner was born October 20, 1894, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Joseph Alexander Gardner and Emma Blanch Crowell. He majored in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but left in 1917 to join the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corp. He served in France during World War I, attained the rank of Captain and was awarded the Croix De Guerre with Palm at age 21. At the end of the war, he traveled Europe studying architecture. The summers between 1920 and 1930 were spent in Europe studying the art of various countries. The rest of the year he was in Washington, DC, where he was the Ballet Master for the Washington Opera Company. He was also the co-owner of the Tchernikoff Gardnier School of Dancing, performing with Lisa Gardnier (Lina Basquette) as the Tchernikoff Gardnier Dancers. His stage name was Paul Tchernikoff. In addition, during this time, he received his B.A. from George Washington University, graduating in 1928. In 1930 he decided to focus on art, and attended classes at Harvard's Fogg Art Museum in order to prepare himself for museum work. He completed his studies in 1932. He became the assistant to the Trustees of the William Rockhill Nelson Trust in March of that year; this was followed by his appointment as first Director of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts in 1933. He served during World War II as a Lieutenant Colonel in command of the Arts and Monuments Commission of the U.S. Army in Italy. From 1942 to 1945 he also served as the Military Governor of Ischia, an Italian island in the Mediterranean Sea. He resigned as Director in May 1953. For the last 19 years of his life he spent his summers on his ranch in New Mexico, and his winters in Italy. Gardner died in New Mexico on September 11, 1972.
From the description of Paul Gardner papers, 1916-1950. (Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art). WorldCat record id: 499189651
