interview with the chairman of the new american wing at the metropolitan museum of art

8/2/2019 Interview with the Chairman of the New American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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NEW YORK CITY

Morrison Heckscher, chairman of the American

Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

discusses the newly-renovated 30,000 square feet

of gallery space that now houses a comprehensivecollection of American art.

DISTINCTLY

AMERICANby Jim Balestieri

Morrie Heckscher

has been the

chairman of

the American Wing at the

Metropolitan Museum of

Art in New York s ince

2001. Having made it his

mission to expand and

redesign the American

Wing, the Mets extensiveAmerican holdings have

been re-imagined in 25

new galler ies, with works

displayed chronologically

as well as thematically.

Twenty-one of the new

galleriesincluding the

18 sky-l it Joan Whitney

Payson Gallerieshave

been created to display

the Amer ican Wings

extraordinary collectionof paintings, which date back to the 1870s through the

strong support of founding trustee-painters Frederic Edwin

Church and John Freder ick Kensett. The American Wing

opened on January 16th. Mr. Heckscher graciously took time

out from the opening festivities to speak with American

Fine Art Magazine.

Morrison H. Heckscher,

the Lawrence A. Fleischman

Chairman of the American Wing

at The Metropolitan Museum of

Art. Photograph courtesy The

Metropolitan Museum of Art.

A view of Emanuel Leutzes Washington Crossing the Delawarein

Gallery 760: History, Landscape, and National Identity, 185075.

Peter Jay Sharp Foundation Gallery.

CONTENTS AUCTIONS EVENTS MUSEUMS INDEXPREVIEWS


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American Fine Art Magazine: The

new American Wing is stunning. Who

were some of the prime movers in the

project and how did the space evolve?

Morris Heckscher: In 2001, when I

became Chairman of the American

Wing, I got the directors approval to

study ways in which the American

Wing could be improved. Peter Kenney,

curator of Decorative Arts, Lulu C.

Wang, one of our trustees, and architect

Kevin Roche were instrumental in the

process. We wanted to address some of

the American Wings shortcomings

the collection was on two levels, for

example, which gave the impression

that works on the lower levelworks

by Eakins, Homer and Sargentwere

somehow less important.

AFAM: You enter the Amer ican Wing

through the colonial galleries. Portraits

line the walls. Among the George

Washingtons and other portraits of the

famous are a number of paintings of

people we no longer know much, if

anything, about. What kinds of stories

John Singer Sargent (18561925),Madame X (Madame Pierre

Gautreau), 188384. Oil on canvas, 821/8 x 43 in., Arthur Hoppock

Hearn Fund, 1916 (16.53).



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do such por traits tell us today, some

250 years after they were painted?

MH: We may not remember them, but

these portraits were the way in which

people remembered their families

and fr iends. There was no way then

to record a likeness other than in

portraiture. The portrait by Ralph Earl

of General Marinus Willetta hero

of the Revolutionhangs beside the

sword pictured in the painting. This

kind of thing lends an immediacy to the

experience. Another Earl portrait, the

one of Elijah Boardman, a merchant,

offers us an image of the new American.

From his office we see through to his

shop the imported textiles he traded in.

His dignity is comparable to that found

in Gilbert Stuarts portrait of George

Washington. Each man is portrayed in a

grand manner.

AFAM: The works do seem to be in

a kind of dialogue with one another,

based on where the viewer stands.

What are some of your favorite

dialogues between the works, that is,

The paintings seen in, Gallery 753: Era of the Revolution, 17761800, express the pride of a young nation born of revolution and celebrate

its heroes and hard-fought battles. Artists Benjamin West, Charles Willson Peale, John Trumbull, and Gilbert Stuart are found here. The

George M. and Linda H. Kaufman Galleries.


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what are some of your favorite places

to stand in the American Wing?

MH: Between the portraits ofBoardman and Washington, you see

Sullys painting of Queen Victoria on

her access ion to the throne. Its an

interesting counterpoint: the dignity

of the young Queen captured by

the American artist eager to make a

name for himself between these two

stately American men. I wanted there

to be as many of these deliberate

positionings as possible, vistas through

the galleries, ways to use the natural

light that comes into the galleries to

draw visi tors through. The wonderful

eagle faces left, suggesting as you passthat you follow his gaze. You turn

your head and there it is: Leutzes

WashingtonCrossing the Delaware.

You can see Sargents Madame Xtwo

galleries away, near the Eakins. You are

drawn through the gallery featuring

Sargents nature paintings to the

gallery featur ing Sargents por traits. We

use the points of the compass: north,

south, east and west as geographical

and temporal guides as well.

AFAM: Can you tell us a bit about

the process of restor ing, reframing and

installing Leutzes WashingtonCrossingthe Delaware?

MH: Gary Barrett spearheaded the

restoration of the painting, the frame

and the reputation of the Leutze.

Thirty years ago, it was more of an

embarrassment than an asset. It was

considered bombastic. Heres an

anecdote: our restorers uncovered

dates painted, probably by Leutze, as

he worked on it: months and days in

1851. Some of these are in the ice

Another view of Gallery 760: History, Landscape, and National Identity, 1850-75.



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floes. We know now, something of his

process, how it evolved for him. When

our head of conservation, a specialistin European paintings, saw the finished

product, he said, Now its a picture,

meaning it would be seen properly for

the first time in a long time.

AFAM: Washington Crossing the

Delawaremay be the single most

recognizable image in American

art. It has been made to serve any

number of ideological agendas. It has

been praised, eulogized, criticized,

parodied, deconstructed, called kitsch,

turned into kitsch. What is it about

this painting that seems to transcendanything anyone can say about it?

MH: You have to take it on its own

terms. It isnt an accurate depiction

of a moment in history. Its a

dramatization, an artistic retelling of an

important story as an epic. We created

a gallery for it, a gallery that recreates

the way it was hung in New York in

1864, during the height of the Civil

War, flanked by Bierstadts Rockies

and Churchs Andes. This also adds a

dimension to the story of the painting.

AFAM: There are some magnificentpieces by relatively unknown or

anonymous artists. I am thinking of

the marble urn by Amos Van Wart,

which your sculpture curator, Thayer

Tolles, very kindly described for me,

as well as the anonymous painting of

Five Points. In a wing packed with

stars, why did you include some of

these works by lesser-known artists?

MH: The Van Wart, for example, is

a marvelous marble urn depicting

Thomas Eakins (18441916), The Champion Single Sculls (Max Schmitt in a Single

Scull), 1871. Oil on canvas, purchase, The Alfred N. Punnett Endowment Fund and

George D. Pratt Gift, 1934 (34.92).

Winslow Homer (18361910), The Gulf Stream, 1899. Oil on canvas, Wolfe

Fund, Catharine Lorillard Wolfe Collection, 1906 (06.1234).


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Native Americans. One looks back, as

if to times past; the other looks ahead,

to the future. We recently acquired asmall Bierstadt study of three Indian

heads. So the urn draws you to the

study which then draws you back to

the magnificent Bierstadt.

AFAM: What kinds of events are

planned as you inaugurate the

American Wing?

MH: We shouldnt overlook the

Duncan Phyfe Exhibition in the Irving

and Joy Wolf Galler ies going on right

now. Duncan Phyfe was New Yorks

greatest cabinetmaker. This is a major

exhibition. And one other thing aboutthe early galleries in the American

Wing: Our greatest 18th-century room,

the Great Hall of the Van Rensselaer

Home in Albany, with its hand painted

wallpaper is a unique, rare survival.

There is a wonderful pedimented

doorway and a row of scroll-top

chests. We treat furniture as sculpture

or architecture. Same with the

magnificent 18th-century silverthese

are works of art.

AFAM: As the collection grows,

are there any specific artists, eras

or schools that you will be lookingto add?

MH: Want lists. Ive stopped making

them. What you want and what

is available seldom match. When

something comes along that tells a

story we havent told, we try to go

after it.

AFAM: Youve opened the Amer ican

Wing on the 150th anniversary of

the Civil War. Though the parallel is

Gallery 771: Portraiture in the Grand Manner, 18801900 where John Singer Sargents Madam Xis displayed. Terian Family Gallery.

All images courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.



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imperfect, the nation today is once again

deeply divided. Is this a good time to

reexamine the growth and developmentof American art, or does our sense of

crisis present special challenges?

MH: Its a wonderful time to

reexamine American art. Art tells

us so much about our history.

Here at the museum we focus on

aesthetic qualities, but our American

art collection, which we have

been forming since 1870, has high

points and depth. Its a thematic,

chronological history of America

through art that tells us that tension

and division are nothing new. Lets

listen to what these artists tell us.To take a specific issue: the

environment. Their g reat landscapes

are an American response to

European histor ical painting. They

saw what the railroads were doing,

the effects of clear-cutting in the

Catskill s and Hudson Valley. They

saw what was happening to Native

Americans. To them, the land was our

treasure and our histor y, and thats

what they painted.

AFAM: Last questionwhich artwork

in the American Wing (apar t from the

LeutzeI dont want this to be tooeasy) would make a great inspiration

for a movie?

MH: So many. The way the works

have been installed, I just hope people

have a field day with the stories they

tell.

American Fine Art Magazine is proud to

sponsor Morrison H. Heckschers lecture

at the Philadelphia Antiques Show (April

27 through May 1, 2012).

interview with the chairman of the new american wing at the metropolitan museum of art

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