Aesthetic Splendors
On view now at the Met are decorative and fine arts from the promised gift of art dealers Deedee and Barriewigmore
This year marks a momentous occasion for the Metropolitan Museum of Art—its 150th anniversary. For more than a century and a half, the famed institution has been a treasure trove for art lovers around the world, serving as a place of beauty and learning.with this year’s milestone, art patrons Barrie and Deedee Wigmore have promised 88 examples of Aesthetic Movement and Gilded Age decorative arts and Hudson River School paintings to the museum. The couple has been prominent in the art world for decades and has a long-standing relationship with the museum.they have supported programs for the American Wing and also helped the Met develop its collection of decorative arts of the Gilded Age through funds and gifts. “In 1999, Barrie Wigmore made a donation to endow the American Wing Galleries devoted to the Aesthetic Movement in Deedee Wigmore’s name, followed a few years later with endowment funds for the gallery devoted to the work of Louis C.tiffany,” says Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, the Anthony W. and Lulu C.wang Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Met. Barrie was elected a trustee of the museum in 2002. She adds,“[deedee] is founder
and president of the prominent Newyork gallery, D.wigmore Fine Art, specializing in American art, primarily of the 20th century, but also with holdings of the late 19th century. Prior to that, she was in charge of American art at Knoedler Gallery in Newyork.” Through August 16, visitors to the Met will have the chance to view the promised gift in the exhibition Aesthetic Splendors: Highlights from the Gift of Barrie and Deedee Wigmore.the show, featuring 50 decorative works and paintings from the 88 items, allows for a unique installation-style display.“all media are exhibited together—something
I feel strongly about because the integration of all the arts was one of the primary tenets of the Aesthetic Movement. In addition, the display suggests the Wigmores’ apartment in the legendary 1880s apartment house,
The Dakota. Of course, the apartment features very high ceilings and completely different proportions, as well as period 1880s woodwork meticulously restored by the Wigmores, which we have not been able to replicate in the Museum,” says Frelinghuysen. “However, we have introduced period lighting from their collection—artistic brass floor lamps and a chandelier—which give
Sanford Robinson Gifford (1823-1880), An Indian Summer Day in Claverack Creek, 1877-79. Oil on canvas.
it a very different look. In addition, we wallpapered the gallery in papers that the Wigmores used in their apartment—one wallpaper is based on a design by the American architect P. B.wight; the dado paper is based on a design by Christopher Dresser,” she continues.“i think right away the visitor has a totally different impression from the other Museum galleries, and one that suggests the period’s interest in a multiplicity of patterned surfaces and reform design, as well as the richness of the Gilded Age.”
The gift adds depth and breadth to the already existing items in the museum, while highlighting a focused and dedicated collection journey for the Wigmores.“as a young art dealer in the 1970s, I was lucky to participate in the rediscovery of the artists of the Hudson River School. It led to my personal growth and intellectual awakening. I was building a career and a home at a time when 19th-century art and decorative arts objects were generally unappreciated, available and inexpensive,” says Deedee.“the finding, learning about each artist and designer and discussing them with others made each discovery exciting. Sourcing paintings by the Hudson River School artists fueled my interest in 19th-century decorative arts as the paintings were often still hanging in artists’ homes and studios.”
Deedee says she has a personal affinity for landscapes that “express the spirit of place” as well as works that arise because of friendships and painting trips between artists, such as Sanford Robinson Gifford and
Jervis Mcentee. In the Wigmore collection there will be 21 paintings heading to the Met, 11 of which are featured in this show.“they add to the collection in a number of ways. First, and significantly, they bring to the collection three important oil sketches by members of the second generation of Hudson River School painters—albert Bierstadt and Sanford
Gifford,” says Frelinghuysen. “This is an area in which the curators in American painting—betsy Kornhauser, in particular—are especially interested, and these are superb example.the Gifford, [An Indian Summer Day in Claverack Creek], in fact, is the study for the glorious Gifford finished oil that is also part of the gift.
“In other cases, individual works were selected because qualitatively they are better examples than some in the existing collection,” continues Frelinghuysen. “And in addition, it added a few examples by lesser known artists but exceptional works, and artists not well represented in the Metropolitan’s collection, notably Charles Harold Davis’ Giverny, Harvest Moon, an artist from whom we only had one example, and this one is far better.” Other paintings that are notable are William Trost Richards’ Rushes, Easton’s Pond, Newport, Rhode Island; Bricher’s Low Tide, Hetherington’s Cove, Grand Manan; and the 1879 painting Otters
by the Water’s Edge, by Arthur F.tait.“a particular favorite of mine is Walter Launt Palmer’s The Student, 1884, a wonderful and atmospheric view of an Aesthetic interior, complete with Japanese folding screen and a Chinese porcelain vase,” says Frelinghuysen. “And I would be remiss if I did not mention Elihuvedder’s rare relief sculptural iron Japanese Dragon fireback, 1881-8.Vedder, like many artists of the period, worked in a number of different media, and began a series of modeled firebacks in the early 1880s. It is wonderfully expressive in the Japanesque composition of a dragon and waves.”
The Wigmores’ artwork is primarily from the mid-1860s to the late 1890s, and it roughly corresponds with their collection of decorative arts that includes metalwork from the Herter Brothers that includes brass andirons made for William H.vanderbilt’s bedroom and one of the most important Herter cabinets to become known. Other highlights are small tables, a chair, cabinet and lighting in Aesthetic brass that all add to the holdings.
“The gift that my husband, Barrie, and I made for the 150th anniversary of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is an expression of our love for the museum where we learned and made so many discoveries,” says Deedee. “Our hope is this gift will lead others to appreciate the 19th century and set some on their own voyage of discovery. Discovery and subsequent recognition are the lifeblood of the art word. Every generation writes its own history.”