Review of The Great Boston Collectors: Paintings from the Museum of Fine Arts.

At one level this is a picture book of the great paintings of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It was published in 1984 by the Museum. The important collections fall into three categories – the early European masters ( these are Italian, French, Spanish, Dutch , Flemish, English and American oil paintings), the Impressionist collection ( some wonderful works by Degas, Manet, Cezanne, Pisarro , Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, and Fantin Latour) and the third category has been labeled “the emergence of American Painting” ( this covers colonial portraiture and family groups, Copley is well represented, landscapes and documentary moment of the US development of the 18th and 10th century). As such this book is a delight to page through as the colour illustrations are of a good quality, well photographed and European and American art have been integrated.

At another level the book is about the politics of art collecting and the generosity of early founders and donors and reflects the tastes of the important benefactors and wealthy city fathers of Boston. The book was the enduring legacy of an exhibition,” the Great Boston Collectors” and was sponsored by the New England Mutual Life Insurance Company which celebrated its 150 anniversary with this project. In that sense, the book reflects the bestowal of immortality on the company, the Museum and its various buildings, the artists represented and the “great” collectors and donors. The cover juxtaposes artworks and founders, patrons and benefactors of the museum. The museum and its collections reflects the development and success of the city of Boston as a cultural and educational New England hub.

Economic and financial success enabled a number of public spirited business people and families to found dynasties and become philanthropists. The background of the founders and philanthropists was rooted in trade, textiles, sugar , rubber, paper production, mining and they themselves were mainly the beneficiaries of second generation inherited wealth. The legacy was impressive - 50 paintings by Copley, 150 words by Millet, 39 by Monet. Boston was fortunate to have so many collectors and donors to shape their museum. At the same time despite the exhibition being held in 1984 the focus was on tradition and the paintings reflect a well settled established attitude that proudly announces civic pride and social arrival. There is nothing very “avant garde “ here. So many of the early American paintings have a certain naivety and primitiveness, yet are given a stature and importance perhaps beyond the artistic merits of the works themselves because of collectability, selection and bequest and indeed becoming part of an important museum.

The book is also a case study in how and why a museum emerges to house collections and art and introduces some ideas about the building a suitable museum , architecture and how art should be displayed to august effect . This is a book that encourages one to include Boston on an itinerary of travels in the USA, ( along with Chicago, New York, Washington and Los Angeles) to see this clearly important collection. However this is not a particularly critical book in art history as it does not seek to evaluate the art or the process of collecting; nor does it make any effort to place Boston in a national art context. ( )