September 21, 2004
Judith Rothschild Foundation drawings gift
This New York Times article on Harvey Shipley Miller's Judith Rothschild Foundation drawings collection includes an important quote:
"The collection is not being presented to them as an all-or-nothing gift," Mr. Miller said. "If they want to accept some and not all of it, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But knowing the views of the museum staff, I don't believe it will come to that."
Art world rumor had predicted the gift would be an all-or-nothing affair, which would make it something difficult for MoMA's board to swallow. The article quotes Miller as saying "This gift has a lot of noncanonical figures, is very contemporary, and includes emerging artists whose future is uncertain, so the drawings committee may not want to accept it," all of which is an understatement. Based on the summer group exhibition curated by André Schlechtriem, Miller's assistant, and what other information I have about it, it's a very uneven collection. (Though that may stem more from Miller's and Schlechtreim's biases than their ability to identify strong works by the artists they do collect.) It nonetheless contains beautiful, important works—as the Times image slideshow attests—and it would be a shame if MoMA turned it down.