12 Anniversary Preview

12th Anniversary 10 www.antiquesandfineart.com rowing up near “The Fens” of Boston, part of Frederick Law Olmsted’s Emerald Necklace park system, I had the opportunity to frequent the nearby cultural institutions, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Both have undergone major recent renovations and expansions. In November 2010, The New MFA opened, which included a new Art of the Americas Wing. In her article “The Arts and Crafts Movement & the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” (pages 262–269), Nonie Gadsden* discusses the first gallery in the institution’s history dedicated to this period, which was “integrally related” to the museum’s founding in 1870. It was ten years later that Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924) attended her first lecture on art history, which led to her becoming one of the “foremost female patrons of the arts.” This power house persona is evident in the determination and strength seen in her countenance, which her friend John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) captured in her full-length portrait (pages 208–210). It was Gardner’s wish for her palace and the arrangement of art within to remain essentially unaltered, though the museum that now bears her name has long felt the strain of increasing attendance numbers. The solution was the opening in January 2012 of a new building, designed by Renzo Piano, which is located behind the original structure. To someone like me who appreciates both a time capsule and the need to accommodate for changing circumstances, I believe the solution is perfect. January 2012 also saw the completion of twenty-six New American Wing galleries, signifying the final phase of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing renovations. Collections of furniture and decorative arts, sculpture, and paintings fill 30,000 square-feet. In celebration, we present a series of six articles contributed by those involved with the installation, spearheaded by Morrison Heckscher, the Lawrence A. Fleischman Chairman of the American Wing (pages 211–227). Following the article by Barbara Weinberg, “Portraiture in the Grand Manner,” Peter Kenny, the Ruth Bigelow Wriston Curator of American Decorative Arts and Administrator of The American Wing, shares new research on cabinetmaker Duncan Phyfe (1770–1854). It was ninety years ago when the first retro- spective on Phyfe was held, and it was at The Met. Kenny and those with whom he worked have brought “together for the first time documented fur- niture made during each successive style phase” of Phyfe’s career (pages 228–237). In tandem with this ground breaking exhibit, and in celebration of their sixtieth year in business, Hirschl & Adler Galleries is presenting The World of Duncan Phyfe: The Arts of New York, 1800–1847 (page 82). Filling five galleries and two hallways at their Crown Building suite, the exhibition, which runs through February 17th, is accompanied by a scholarly, fully- illustrated 150-page catalogue. In this era of tightening museum budgets and diminishing attention spans, it is heartening to witness expansions and continued scholarship. The institutions mentioned above are only some of the many that continue to offer enrichment on an intellectual and aesthetic level. We look forward to seeing you out and about in 2012. My best, Johanna McBrien ( Johanna@AntiquesAndFineArt.com) * Congratulations to Nonie, the recently promoted Katherine Lane Weems Senior Curator of American Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the MFA, Boston. G Photography by Ellen McDermott FROM THE ED IT O R