Morgan: Mind of the Collector
Exhibition: 23 September-31 December 2017
Conference: 10-11 November 2017
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT, USA
Nearly 100 years ago, the Wadsworth Atheneum received an extraordinary gift of more than 1,350 works of art from the collection of financier J. Pierpont Morgan. These objects, an array of 18th century German and French porcelains, Italian majolica, baroque goldsmith’s work and glass, and a small group of antiquities, now form the core of the museum’s European decorative arts collection.
Morgan’s story as a collector is not as well known as the story of his business career despite the groundbreaking quantity, scope, and character of his collection. Estimated to have exceeded 20,000 works of art assembled in only 23 years, the quality of the collection was remarkably high—a great achievement at a time when scholarship was young and fakery rampant.
Pierpont began to seriously collect art after his father’s death in 1890, and by 1907 he was devoting most of his time to building collections for himself and for institutions. Simultaneously, Morgan’s extensive philanthropies invigorated and reshaped a number of fledgling public institutions like the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Natural History, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
Morgan: Mind of the Collector explores Pierpont’s groundbreaking collecting career through its impact on art scholarship, the art market, and the redefining of collecting in American and European culture. Profiling what he collected and how, the exhibition assesses this remarkable man and his colossal achievement with fresh eyes and the distance of a century. Was he a cultural super-hero, a ransacking barbarian, or something more nuanced? Featuring stellar works of art from the Wadsworth Atheneum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Morgan Library, this exhibition tells a variety of illuminating stories about J. Pierpont Morgan as a collector, delving into his mind and exploring his enduring legacy.
The Wadsworth Atheneum will host an international symposium in conjunction with the exhibition to reexamine and showcase the latest research about Morgan’s collection and how he shaped the identity of the collector in the modern age.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Session 1: Morgan and the Biblical Lands
Chair, Steven Tinney, University of Pennsylvania
Yelena Rakic, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Discovering the Ancient Near East
Lyle Humphrey, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh: Morgan in Egypt
John Bidwell, Morgan Library & Museum, New York: Morgan’s Bibles
Session 2: The Romance of History
Chair, Christine Brennan, Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Christine Brennan, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Morgan and Medieval Art
Roger Wieck, Morgan Library & Museum, New York: Morgan and Manuscripts
Saturday, November 11
Session 3: Building a Beautiful Life
Chair, Colin Bailey, Director, Morgan Library & Museum
Wolfram Koeppe, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Gold and Garnets: A Love of Precious Objects
Linda Roth, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford
Prince’s Gate, London
Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: From Gilded Age Interior to Renaissance Palazzo: Morgan’s New York House
Session 4: The Politics of Collecting: The Global Network
Chair, Inge Reist, Center for the History of Collecting at the Frick
Catherine Scallen, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland: Turning to the Experts
Jennifer Tonkovich, Morgan Library & Museum, New York: Morgan’s experts and dealers in London and Europe
Barbara Pezzini, National Gallery, London: Collecting British Paintings
Session 5: Crafting a Legacy
Chair, Jennifer Tonkovich, Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Charlotte Vignon, Frick Collection, New York: Morgan and Duveen: The Formation and Dispersal of a Collection
Jo Briggs, Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore: Morgan and His Fellow American Collectors