The Philadelphia Museum of Art has received major works of art as gifts in honor of the late Anne d’Harnoncourt, the museum’s director from 1982 until her death in June 2008.
Among these gifts are fine paintings by Gilbert Stuart, Georges Seurat and Frank Stella; an important drawing by Claes Oldenburg, as well as many other noteworthy works in a variety of media. The museum is also purchasing an important work by Ellsworth Kelly with funds donated in memory of d’Harnoncourt.
“Art was Anne’s great passion, and she was a public servant in the truest sense of the word,” said Gail Harrity, interim CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. “It is both fitting and deeply moving that the museum has received these exceptional gifts in Anne’s memory because they are testaments to her directorship and will be shared with the public that she served with tremendous dedication.”
Alice Beamesderfer, interim head of curatorial affairs, said that the museum has thus far received more than 50 gifts in memory of Anne d’Harnoncourt and expects to receive more in the months to come.
Among the highlights is a portrait by Gilbert Stuart (American, 1755‱828), a gift from Robert L. and Nancy McNeil, Jr. Painted in 1797 when the artist, living in Philadelphia, was at the height of his powers, the “Portrait of Anne Willing Bingham” captured her elegance in the grand British manner.
Stuart presents her with polished self-assurance and an elaborate hairstyle, the rich black velvet of her dress allowing a revealing neckline that sets off a dazzling jeweled necklace. The sitter’s education is signaled by the book she holds, Voyage en Syrie , by the French geographer Chasseboeuf, Comte de Volney, whom the Binghams entertained in Philadelphia and engaged to teach their daughters French.
Seurat’s “Moored Boats and Trees” is the first work to enter the collection by the great neo-Impressionist (French, 1859‱891). It is the gift of Jacqueline Matisse Monnier, artist and honorary trustee of the museum. While it measures 65/16 by 913/16 inches, it is noted for its seeming stillness and gemlike illumination and evokes a large space. Henri Matisse, who was the donor’s grandfather, owned the painting for many years, and Matisse’s signature appears on the back of the support, presumably to document his ownership.
“Plant City,” 1963, a large shaped canvas by Frank Stella (American, b 1936), has been given in d’Harnoncourt’s memory by Agnes Gund, the president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. It belongs to an important series of paintings completed during the artist’s yearlong residency at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
A large and important drawing for a project in Chicago by Claes Oldenburg, “Study for a Tomb Monument to Louis Sullivan,” 1971, is the gift of Marion Boulton Stroud, trustee of the museum and founder of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia; it is the first drawing by the artist to enter the museum’s collection.
The drawing, which is 21½ by 251/16 inches, depicts in monumental scale the broom closet in a Chicago hotel where, according to legend, Sullivan was forced to sleep at the end of his life, surreptitiously cared for by hotel employees.
The museum is also acquiring “Seine,” 1951, a seminal early work by Ellsworth Kelly (American, b 1923), with funds contributed in d’Harnon-court’s memory. The painting was executed at a critical time when Kelly was living in Paris and had abandoned figuration and easel painting to embrace abstraction.
The museum has also received gifts of works by such artists as Aaron Douglas, Robert Frank, Francis Picabia, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hamilton and others.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For information, 215-763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org .
