Metropolitan Museum Acquires World-Renowned Collection of Photographs from The Howard Gilman Foundation
(New York, March 16, 2005)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Howard Gilman Foundation announced jointly today that the Museum has acquired the Gilman Paper Company Collection, widely regarded as the world's finest collection of photographs in private hands. With exceptional examples of 19th-century French, British, and American photographs, as well as masterpieces from the turn-of-the-century and modernist periods, the Gilman Collection has played a central role in establishing photography's historical canon and has long set the standard for connoisseurship in the field. In addition to many unique and beautiful icons of photography by such masters as Julia Margaret Cameron, Roger Fenton, Nadar, Gustave Le Gray, Mathew Brady, Carleton Watkins, Edward Steichen, and Man Ray, the Gilman Collection includes extensive bodies of work by numerous pioneers of the camera. The collection was acquired through purchase, complemented by a generous gift from the Foundation. It contains more than 8,500 photographs, dating primarily from the first century of the medium, 1839-1939.
In announcing the acquisition, Philippe de Montebello, Director of the
Metropolitan, commented: "It is most gratifying to see the Metropolitan's collection assume preeminence in yet another area of artistic endeavor. This acquisition—by far the most important that the Museum has ever made in the field of photography, indeed one of the most important acquisitions in any field—will provide our public with a rich and enduring opportunity to study and appreciate the visual innovation, expressiveness, and sheer beauty of photography at its highest level. The Museum and its public all owe a deep debt of gratitude to its Trustees, donors, and supporters, as well as to The Howard Gilman Foundation, for having given this unparalleled collection its proper home at the Metropolitan."
Pierre Apraxine, Curator of the Gilman Paper Company Collection from its inception and a Director of The Howard Gilman Foundation, commented: "We are tremendously pleased. There could be no more perfect home for this collection than the Metropolitan Museum, where the masterpieces of photography that Howard Gilman so lovingly gathered can be enjoyed by a broad public within the rich context of the world's best art and the panorama of history."
Mr. de Montebello noted that, in addition to allocations from the Museum's general art acquisition funds, including the Rogers Fund, major gifts in support of the Gilman acquisition were received from Joyce F. Menschel, a Museum Trustee and Chair of the Department of Photographs Visiting Committee, and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee; Harriette and Noel Levine; Mr. and Mrs. Andrew M. Saul; Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation; Joseph M. Cohen; Jennifer and Joseph Duke; Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis; Cynthia Hazen Polsky; and, collectively, The Alfred Stieglitz Society, the Friends group that supports the activities and acquisitions of the Department of Photographs. He also noted generous and timely support from the William Talbott Hillman Foundation; Robert Rosenkranz; the Marlene Nathan
Meyerson Family Foundation; W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg; the Sam Salz Foundation; Heidi S. Steiger; and two anonymous donors. Additional funds for the purchase will be raised during the coming year through the sale of duplicates and other photographs from both the Met and Gilman collections. Finally, Mr. de Montebello expressed his profound thanks to The Howard Gilman Foundation, which has donated a substantial portion of the collection.
Mr. de Montebello praised the efforts over many years of Maria Morris Hambourg, founding Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs and now a Consulting Curator; Malcolm Daniel, her successor as Curator in Charge; and the staff of the Department of Photographs for their long and productive efforts to advance knowledge and appreciation of the Gilman Collection and to bring it to the Metropolitan. Mr. Daniel commented: "This acquisition does not merely improve the Museum's photography collection—it transforms it. In many areas, the Gilman Collection alone is stronger than the Met's, and together they constitute deep, rich holdings of work by many of the greatest artists of the medium. The union of our collections is an event long hoped for by the Metropolitan and by the late Howard Gilman, his curator Pierre Apraxine, and The Howard Gilman Foundation. This is indeed a dream come true."
The Gilman Paper Company Collection
The Gilman Paper Company Collection was formed over the course of two decades (roughly 1977-1997) by Howard Gilman, Chairman of the Gilman Paper Company until his death in January 1998, and his curator Pierre Apraxine. Although they began by collecting photographs made during the first half of the 20th century, after several years they turned to the relatively unexplored terrain of the 19th century. Mr. Gilman explained in 1992: "It was the greater challenge—more difficult to find, appreciate, and sort out. The field was a submerged continent but it is essential as a foundation for the photography of this century." Pierre Apraxine elaborated, "At the time it seemed almost virgin territory. For us it all started with discovering Baldus's photograph of an afternoon in the country [édouard Baldus,
Group at the Château de la Faloise, 1857]. In 1977, I didn't know who Baldus was, but when you see something extraordinary like that, if you've been studying art for some time, you just know it is an overlooked masterpiece. I remember when I came back from that first visit to France, I said, 'Howard, this is it, this is where we should go.'"
In the ensuing years, Gilman and Apraxine built a world-renowned collection that includes not only recognized and celebrated monuments in the history of photography, but also newly discovered artists and individual photographs that quickly assumed iconic status in their own right. The beautiful and mysterious Woman Seen from the Back (ca. 1862) by the little-known French photographer Onésipe Aguado is one such example; reproduced on the cover of the Metropolitan's 1993 exhibition catalogue The Waking Dream, the photograph is now recognized as among the most elegant and enigmatic portraits of its time. Other 19th-century French photographs—an area of particular strength in the Gilman Collection—include early daguerreotypes such as Choiselat and Ratel's dazzling Pavillon de Flore and the Tuileries Gardens (1849); portraits by the famed Nadar and his brother Adrien Tournachon, whose Self Portrait (ca. 1855) reveals a sensitive and curiously sly artist in a sketching hat and smock; 21 photographs by Gustave Le Gray, including dramatic seascapes and dappled forest scenes; and extensive explorations of Egypt and the Holy Land by Maxime du Camp, Félix Teynard, Auguste Salzmann, and Louis de Clercq.
Among the exceptional examples of 19th-century English photography are early, experimental photographs by the medium's inventor, William Henry Fox Talbot (Botanical Specimen, 1835?); rare masterworks of landscape, architectural, still-life, portrait, and documentary photography by Roger Fenton; portraits by Julia Margaret Cameron, including Philip Stanhope Worsley (1864-66), a mesmerizing portrait of the poet that suggests both his intellectual intensity and his impending death from tuberculosis; fine examples of Lewis Carroll's photographs of children, most notably his portrait of the girl made famous by his Alice stories, Alice Liddell as "The Beggar Maid" (ca. 1859).
Slavery, the abolitionist movement, and the Civil War are represented in a deep and nuanced way in the American photographs of the Gilman Collection. Among the works centered on this theme are a rare and particularly sensitive portrait showing the 51-year-old Abraham Lincoln in Springfield soon after he received his first nomination for the presidency; an anonymous portrait of an unknown African-American youth that, for the period, is a surprisingly noble representation; a group portrait of emancipated slaves—some of them branded on the forehead by their former owners; portraits of major political figures by Mathew Brady; photographs of the terrain and casualties of battle by Alexander Gardner; a display of artifacts from the notorious Andersonville Confederate prison, where 13,000 Union soldiers died of starvation and disease; a photographically illustrated broadside for the capture of John Wilkes Booth and his co-conspirators; and Gardner's photograph of the execution of the Lincoln conspirators on July 7, 1865. The Gilman Collection also has extensive holdings of American daguerreotypy, including more than 35 items by or related to William and Frederick Langenheim, the premier daguerreotypists in Philadelphia during the 1840s and early 1850s; and magnificent landscape views of the American West by Carleton Watkins (Cape Horn, near Celilo, 1867), Timothy O'Sullivan (Fissure Vent of Steamboat Springs, Nevada, 1867), and William Bell.
Turn-of-the-century works of particular note in the Gilman Collection include Edward Steichen's large and painterly composite photograph Rodin—The Thinker (1902), a print that the artist referred to as "mon chef d'oeuvre, mon enfant"; George Seeley's highly abstract Winter Landscape (1909); and nearly 50 prints by Eugène Atget. The fertile period of visual experimentation between the two World Wars is represented by three unique exhibition prints from Paul Strand's most creative moment, ca. 1916; ten works by Man Ray, including the large cameraless Rayograph (1923-28), an abstract work that suggests the alchemy of artistic creation; the sole known print of Charles Sheeler's Upper Deck (ca. 1928), the photographic model for one of his signature paintings; more than two dozen photographs by Walker Evans; and major works by Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, László Moholy-Nagy, August Sander, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï, and others.
In announcing the acquisition, Mr. de Montebello noted that during the 1990s, Howard Gilman and Pierre Apraxine had worked in unison with Maria Morris Hambourg, then Curator in Charge of the Metropolitan's Department of Photographs, to shape the Gilman Paper Company Collection as a perfect complement to that of the Museum. Under Ms. Hambourg's direction, the Museum presented a selection of more than 250 masterpieces from the Gilman Collection in 1993 in the widely acclaimed exhibition The Waking Dream, which was shown in the Museum's special exhibitions galleries normally reserved for Old Master paintings. The exceptional quality and beauty of the work exhibited, the individually considered presentation of each object, and the elegant, majestic galleries in which they were shown made The Waking Dream a pivotal event in changing public perception about photography as art and put the Metropolitan at the forefront of museums exhibiting the medium. Photographs from the Gilman Collection have been included in nearly every Metropolitan Museum photography exhibition and installation since.
Mr. Apraxine remarked: "The Museum's acquisition of the collection is the culmination of many years of involvement on the part of Howard Gilman with the Department of Photographs, beginning with the presentation of The Waking Dream. Over the years, Howard helped the Museum to acquire works by contemporary artists such as Thomas Struth and Andreas Gursky, as well as historical works that complemented those already in the collection." Mr. Gilman was also instrumental in establishing the Metropolitan's first permanent space devoted to the exhibition of photography, inaugurated as The Howard Gilman Gallery in 1997, shortly before Mr. Gilman's death in January 1998.
Ms. Hambourg, now Consulting Curator in the Department of Photographs, remarked: "The finest pictures in this collection are dazzling—among the best evidence anywhere of the medium's poetic capacity. For present and future artists with ambitions in photography the sheer quality of these original early prints will provide not only inspiration and historical precedent but also challenge, for the Gilman Collection sets the gold standard—a truly vital and useful artistic tradition. It is a triumph, a virtual museum of the best fruits of photography's first century."
The Museum announced that a changing selection of masterpieces from the Gilman Collection will be on view in the Museum's Robert Wood Johnson, Jr. Gallery beginning April 17, 2005, and continuing for the next year. In addition, selected works from the Gilman Collection will be on view in two special exhibitions already scheduled to appear at the Metropolitan later this year: All the Mighty World: The Photographs of Roger Fenton, 1852-1860 in the Robert Lehman Wing, May 24 through August 21, 2005; and The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult in the Harriette and Noel Levine Gallery and The Howard Gilman Gallery, September 27 through December 31, 2005. Further exhibition and publication plans will be announced in the future.
FACT SHEET
THE GILMAN PAPER COMPANY COLLECTION
· The Gilman Paper Company Collection was formed between 1977 and 1997 by Howard Gilman and his curator Pierre Apraxine.
· The collection contains more than 1,350 stand-alone photographs and photographic albums, comprising more than 8,500 individual photographs in total.
· In broad terms, the collection is particularly strong in the following areas:
19th-century British photographs and albums
Exceptional works by the inventor of photography, William Henry Fox Talbot, and his circle (Calvert Jones, John Llewelyn, Nevil Story-Maskelyne); unique and iconic works by Roger Fenton, Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, Robert Howlett, Horatio Ross, O.G. Rejlander, and others.
19th-century French photographs and albums
Extremely deep holdings, including unique works by the premier photographers of the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s: Gustave Le Gray, édouard Baldus, Nadar and his brother Adrien Tournachon, Henri Le Secq, Louis-Adolphe Humbert de Molard, Louis Robert, Louis-Pierre-Théophile Dubois de Nehaut, Bisson frères, the Countess de Castiglione, and others; as well as exceptional daguerreotypes from the 1840s and early 1850s.
19th-century American photographs and albums
Incomparable holdings of American daguerreotypes, including works by the Langenheim brothers of Philadelphia, Southworth and Hawes, and Gabriel Harrison; deep, rich holdings of photographs related to slavery and the Civil War, including photographs by Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner; and exceptionally fine landscapes of the American West by Carleton Watkins, Timothy O'Sullivan, and William Bell.
19th-century travel photographs and albums
Numerous albums and individual photographs of Egypt and the Holy Land by Maxime Du Camp, Felix Teynard, Auguste Salzmann, Ernest Benecke, Louis De Clerq, and Francis Frith; photographs of India by John Murray, Linnaeus Tripe, and Samuel Bourne; photographs of China, Japan, and Southeast Asia by Felice Beato, M. Gsell, Raimund von Stillfried, and John Thompson.
Turn-of-the-century photographs
Master works Edward Steichen, F. Holland Day, George Seeley, Heinrich Kühn, Baron de Meyer, E.J. Bellocq, and Jacques-Henri Lartigue; significant holdings of work by Eugène Atget; an important collection of spirit photographs.
Modern photographs, primarily 1914-1940
Major works by Man Ray, Alfred Stieglitz, El Lissitzky, Alexander Rodchenko, Lux Feininger, Umbo, Brassaï, Bill Brandt, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and others.
· Works from the Gilman Collection have been widely published in exhibition catalogues and scholarly books and articles in many languages. Two books devoted exclusively the Gilman collection are:
Pierre Apraxine, Photographs from the Collection of the Gilman Paper Company. White Oak Press, 1985.
Maria Morris Hambourg, Pierre Apraxine, et al., The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993.
· Supporters of the Museum's acquisition include:
Joyce F. Menschel and The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee
Harriette and Noel Levine
Mr. and Mrs. Andrew M. Saul
Mrs. Walter H. Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation
Joseph M. Cohen
Jennifer and Joseph Duke
Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis
Cynthia Hazen Polsky
The Alfred Stieglitz Society
Estate of Jacob S. Rogers
William Talbott Hillman Foundation
Robert Rosenkranz
Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation
W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg
Sam Salz Foundation
Heidi S. Steiger
Two anonymous donors
HOWARD GILMAN (1924-1998)
Howard Gilman was born in New York City in 1924. He attended Dartmouth College, was elected Phi Beta Kappa, and graduated in 1943 at the age of 19. Although he was nominated for a Rhodes Scholarship, the war years prevented him from accepting the honor. He remained in the United States to train as a Japanese linguist, preparing to become a code-breaker in United States Naval Intelligence. Later in his life, he was awarded honorary doctorates from both the Juilliard School and the University of Tel Aviv for his arts patronage.
Howard Gilman was the third-generation member of his family to assume leadership of the Gilman Paper Company, the largest privately held paper and building products company in the United States. He assumed the chairmanship in 1973, guiding the company's continued growth and profitability. At the same time, Mr. Gilman was a generous philanthropist with a deep commitment to the arts, animal conservation, and medical research.
Mr. Gilman's passion for the arts was broad-based, but his support was aimed primarily at performing arts, especially dance. He befriended many dancers and choreographers including Mikhail Baryshnikov, whom he helped to settle in New York immediately following Baryshnikov's defection from the Soviet Union. Later, Mr. Gilman offered White Oak plantation as a venue for creative collaboration between Baryshnikov and choreographer Mark Morris, which led to the creation of The White Oak Dance Project in 1989. In addition, Howard Gilman supported major cultural landmarks, such as the New York City Opera, the American Ballet Theatre, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, where the Opera House has been named after him. He was also a patron of a range of smaller modern dance companies and theaters.
Howard Gilman also had a strong interest in the visual arts. In 2000, his collection of visionary architectural drawings, assembled in the 1970s, was given by The Howard Gilman Foundation to the Museum of Modern Art, where it was exhibited in 2002. His passion for photography led him to develop the finest private collection of photographs in the world. In 1993, portions of the Gilman Paper Company's photography collection were shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the exhibitionThe Waking Dream: Photography's First Century. The Metropolitan's first permanent gallery devoted to photography, The Howard Gilman Gallery, honors Mr. Gilman's contributions to the Museum.
Howard Gilman was dedicated to the conservation of endangered species. In 1982, with a staff of conservation biologists and veterinarians, Mr. Gilman established the White Oak Conservation Center, an animal conservation project specializing in the captive breeding of endangered animal species. The Center cares for and breeds 60 endangered species from around the world, supports international efforts to protect vulnerable species in the wild, and offers study and training opportunities for students and researchers in zoology and veterinary medicine.
Another area of interest for Howard Gilman was cardiovascular health and research. Having suffered from heart disease throughout his adult life, he developed a close relationship with his cardiologist, Dr. Jeffrey S. Borer. With Howard Gilman Foundation support, Dr. Borer established The Howard Gilman Institute for Valvular Heart Diseases, a research, diagnosis, and treatment center focused on heart valve problems. Established in 2000, the institute is founded on more than 25 years of research, evaluation, and treatment of valvular heart diseases by a team of leading scientists led by Dr. Borer. In addition, Howard Gilman was an early supporter of AIDS research, supported a variety of
organizations promoting human rights around the world, promoted international communication and exchange, and sustained the Howard Gilman/ Israel Culture Foundation.
Howard Gilman died in 1998. His legacy is carried on by The Howard Gilman Foundation, which strives to sustain the philanthropic vision, passion for excellence, and personal care its founder demonstrated in all areas of his life.
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