Collecting and Connoisseurship Flashcards
Centennial Exhibition
1876, Philadelphia
reconsideration of American heritage
exhibitions as drivers of taste
Hudson-Fulton Celebration
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1909
Eugune Bolles
utilitarian objects, American craftmanship
colonial art exhibited for the first time
important enough to be in museum
Euguene Bolles Collection
funeral spool, NY, 1688
Searle Chest, Ipswich, MA, 1660 - 1680
Alphonso T. Clearwater
early colonial silver collector
NY beaker, 1683
NY tankard, 1700
wanted objects in museum for artisan/artist inspiration
museum as teaching tool
Period Rooms
Thomas Hart Room, Ipswhich, 1680
John Hewlett Room, paneling, 1740 - 1760, first period room donated the Met
Powell House Room, Philadelphia, 1760s
fictional setting, different objects brought together for ideal setting
Period Town
Williamsburg, VA
John D. Rockefeller
Dr. William Goodwin
preservation
Jeffrey Trask, “Things American: Art Museums and Civic Culture in the Progressive Era”
transformation of material culture from masterpieces to everyday objects
American Wing legitimate American decorative arts, established art historical credibility
fictional rooms to create elite past to influence future
Addresses on the Occasion of the Opening of the American Wing
Robert W. de Forest, Grosvenor Atterbury, Elihu Root
distinct place in museum for American art
elevate American art and create and American ideal
Charles Willson Peale’s Museum
1784 - displays work in home
1794 - Philosophical Hall, Philadelphia
1801 - excavation of the mastadon (painting 1806-08)
1821 - museum become incorporated
1822 - the artist in his museum
John Trumbull & Picture Gallery at Yale
designed by Trumbull
1831 - 1832
neoclassical architecture, skylights
only two rooms
memorialization, buried on sight
John Trumbull, Declaration of Independence, 1832
Yale University Art Gallery
Wadsworth Antheneum
1842 - 1844
first civic art museum
John Vanderlyn, Death of Jane McCrea, 1804
Wadsworth Antheneum
Hartford, CT
New York Historical Society
1804
founded as historical society not art repository
Luman Reed collection
Thomas Cole
Course of Empire
Consummation & Destruction
1836
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1869
first committee from Union League Club
27 founding members including artists
founding principle to educate public later shifted to masterpiece collecting emphasized by JP Morgan
American Academy of Fine Arts
Founded 1802
John Trumbull President 1817
National Academy of Design
1827 start exhibitions in Arcade Baths Building
No permanent space
1865 commissions building
William T. Blotchik
goes to Europe summer of 1870
targeted by Belgium dealers
buys art for the Met
spends about $100,000 on “Heart of the Andes”
Jacob Jordaens
The Holy Family with Saint Anne and Young Baptist and his Parents
1620s and 1650s
part of the founding collection at th eMet
First building of the Metropolitan
1880
designed by Calvert Vaux and Jacob Wrey Mould
Central park - urbanization
South Kensington architecture and model of education
Ruskinian Gothic (red brick)
Joseph Choate
speech at the opening of the Met
patronage of museum, fundraising
money doesnt last, art lasts forever
Hiram Powers
California
1850 - 1855
Astor donated first example of American sculture
Richard Morris Hunt
East Wing Facade
Metropolitan Museum of Art
1895
beaux art architecture associated with the Louvre
shift in purpose - collect masterpieces
J. Pierpont Morgan
President of the board
Vet gifts, set standards for acquisitions
shift in purpose of museum to collect masterpieces
not collecting American art
Raphael
Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints
1504
donated to Met by JP Morgan’s son
couldnt donate all his works bc wealth tied up in art collection, son inherited
George A. Hearn
donates fund of $150,000 to enable Met to collect American Art
Annual Report of Trustees, Metropolitan
1905
gift v. purchase
will not go out and buy American art
encourage American collectors to donate their works
Boston Anthenaeum
1827
annual exhibitions
expose citizens to art to create standard of taste
educate working class/designers for positive effect on design
practical lessons of training artisans
James Perkins
James Perkins
gives house to Boston Anthenaeum
built art gallery and lecture hall in extension of his house
Museum of Fine Art, Boston
1870
role of education, practical impact on designers/working class
positive impact on industrial production
Copley Square
no money (difference from Met)
best collection of casts
Museum of Fine Arts
Copley Square, Boston
1876
Sturgis and Brigham
Ruskinian Gothic architecture like Met
Gustave Courbet
The Quarry
1856
museum spent funds on painting
Frederick Ulhmsted
Fenway Boston museum
connected museum to park and civilized leisure
Martin Brimmer, “The Museum of Fine Arts” American Architect and Building, 1880
museum as place to critique and evaluate
place of objects in museum and how museum responds to changing taste over time
cave to popular taste or hold on to works?
Committee on the Museum (MFA)
1883
how do you grow museum with limited funds
invest in casts, acceptable bc teach
court individuals with collection to be donated
Edward Silvester Morse
scientist who went to Japan to study bracchiopads
became fascinated with Japanese pottery
recorded them in scientific way
became early curator
MFA acquires his collection in 1892
Matthew Prichard, “Current Theories of Arrangement of Fine Arts” 1903
argument on new function of museums
art schools place to train artists not museums
museums center of culture for everyone not just artists
shift in emphasis of education
education broader concept tied to appreciation of all things beautiful
Martha Codman
established Boston family, married younger Russian immigrant singer
collected colonial and federal
interested in all American cities not just Boston
Jean-Francois Millet
Young Shepherdess
1870
MFA interested in collecting french academy painting early on
Martin J. Heade
Passion Flowers and Hummingbirds
1870-1883
Martha Codman’s husband, Maxim Karolik, became avant garde collector
contemporary American
advised by MFAB curator Edwin Hipkiss to shape MFA collection and fill gaps
The American museum building boom
Date & Reason
1890 - 1937
city pride
individual collectors donating collection
How did museums relate to the urban fabric of the city?
urbanization - built around parks
Chicago - City Beautiful Movement
built in large spaces with room for expansion
target a broad audience
museum architecture - neoclassical, museum important enough to have same architecture of ancient civilizations
Albright-Knox Gallery
1905
supposed to open with the Pan American exhibition in 1901 but delayed
William Corcoran
Corcoran gallery opened 1869
private museum no government patronage
individual collection influence character of museum
“First Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings” 1907
How did individual collectors/curators shape the character of the museum?
William Corcoran - Corcoran
Andrew Mellon - National Gallery
Edward Silverster Morse Morse Japanese Pottery collection
House Museums - private collections made public
Corcoran
1869
Washington, D.C.
William Corcoran
contemporary American
Pennsylvania Museum of Art
1877
Philadelphia
Art Institute of Chicago
1891 - 1893
Chicago
City beautiful movement
Charles Hutchinson - president of the board
Albright-Knox Gallery
1905
Buffalo, NY
John Albright gives money to found museum
condition it is in Delaware Park