Winter 2016

2016 Antiques & Fine Art 113 above left Gallery shot of Fever Within: The Art of Ronald Lockett (June 21-September 18, 2016). above right Dr. Anne-Imelda Radice; behind her is Ammi Phillips (1788-1865), Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog , vicinity of Amenia, New York, 1830-1835. Oil on canvas, 30 x 25 inches. American Folk Art Museum, New York; Gift of Ralph Esmerian (2001.37.1). Photo by John Parnell. previous page Flag Gate, Artist unidentified, Jefferson County, New York, United States, ca. 1876. Paint on wood with iron and brass, 39½ x 57 x 3¾ inches. American Folk Art Museum, New York; Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill Jr. in honor of Neal A. Prince (1962.1.1). Photo by John Parnell. This was the first object to enter the museum’s collection. Did You Know: AFAM has 150K visitors per year; 22.8K monthly web visitors; 58K followers on social media; 164 new acquisitions last year; 4K free curriculum guides downloaded; More than 2K school tour visitors; 16 events per month. Visit the website’s “Dashboard” to see more. alongside MoMA. Expenses mounted and AFAM sold the property in 2011 to the neighboring museum. The resulting chatter was that AFAM would not survive. Fingers were pointed and questions arose about the future of the collections. Determined to keep the museum solvent, AFAM’s board and staff rolled up their sleeves and, unburdened by the financial behemoth of 53rd Street, moved their headquarters back to property they’d maintained in Lincoln Square, across from Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera House. An interim strategic plan was drawn up in 2012, and when Radice started her tenure in September of that year the budget was minimal, with only a few million in the endowment. With determination from all parties and adjustments to its staffing, the museum has been operating in the black for the past few years, with a budget holding steady at $3.3 to $3.5 million. Fifty-four years after it was founded, the museum is starting fresh, by breaking with its recent past. Radice, an outsider hailing from Washington, D.C., holds three advanced degrees, one of which is an MBA in finance, which an early mentor, Carter Brown of the National Gallery of Art, suggested she pursue if she wanted to reach her goal of being a museum director. Her career path has included director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS); acting chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts; chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Education; (the first) director of the National Museum of Women in the Arts; curator in the Office of the Architect of the Capitol; and an assistant curator at the National Gallery. As a member of AFAM at an earlier point, she was aware of the collection, its exceptional curatorial staff, and its strong public programs, so when the director position came open, she jumped at the opportunity to offer her business acumen and political and arts world connections to the museum. With her zest for the arts and passion to see AFAM thrive, Radice, in tandem with the board and staff, has been working to make the collections accessible across local and national markets; building the museum’s scholarly reputation; serving diverse audiences and expanding the range of exhibitions; and strengthening the museum’s assets (board, staff, collections, membership, facilities), its fundraising initiatives, and project-based revenue. Her first priority was the collection, which numbers more than 8,000 pieces of artwork, from textiles to paintings to three- dimensional objects to works on paper. Partially stored in Brooklyn or on loan to other institutions, while the collection was