Souvenir Of The German Art Exhibition Of Metropolitan Museum Of Art 1909

Author : Metropolitan Museum of Art
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9781330181720
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (817 download)

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Download or read book The George A. Hearn Gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art written by Metropolitan Museum of Art and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2015-06-25 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The George A. Hearn Gift to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: In the City of New York in the Year MCMVI Objection having been raised to the condition accompanying my offer of pictures and money to the Museum, I deem it but due to myself to offer justification therefor. It having been said that it is difficult to meet the demand that gifts of paintings be kept together permanently, because such collections represent different nationalities and periods, 1 would reply, that while such difficulty might arise where the gifts number a dozen or so, it cannot be true where an entire gallery is harmoniously filled from a definite standpoint, for then the collection becomes a unit, or, let us say, a small museum in itself, the separate works contained therein, holding consistent relation to each other, completing the roundness of the whole. This collection is not simply a number of unrelated pictures that happened to please the fancy, brought to the Museum from the walls of my home; on the contrary, it is a collection formed in the gallery where it now hangs, during a number of years, having been subjected to frequent changes, always with improvement, and, by consent and approval of the authorities, until the present harmony was secured. To scatter these paintings through different rooms would be to undo the result 1 have desired to attain, and the artist or art lover will find nothing in Gallerv is to interfere with his enjoyment, nor can the effect be said to be disturbing to the Museum. It is but natural that donors should prefer to have their gifts assembled where they maybe seen at their best, rather than scattered through various rooms. Certain collections of paintings, porcelains, jades and musical instruments, now in the Museum, are far more interesting shown by themselves, than if broken up. Furthermore, they are gifts no Museum can afford to refuse on the ground that they are to be kept together permanently; for it is to the generosity of private individuals that we must look for the constant growth of the institution. To distribute this collection now according to schools would be to substitute a mechanical subdivision for an arrangement arrived at after years of loving study. The objection raised to keeping together individual collections has not disturbed European Museums. For example, in the National Gallery we find the Peel Collection, though purchased in 1871, is still kept together; then there are those notable examples of Turner, which were accepted by the Trustees with the condition that they should hang with the Claudes. In the South Kensington we find the Sheepshank's Pictures kept together, as well as the Forster, the Dyce and others; also the admirable collection of Furniture, Pictures and Art Objects bequeathed by Mr. Jones. In the Louvre hangs the La Caze Collection. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.