History can be viewed as a sequence of repetitions, recurring events, reappearances and reenactments. In the 15th century, Florence is flourishing under the rule of the Medici, Lorenzo the Magnificent. He gathers in his house all the leading artists of the day: Boticelli, Ghirlandaio, Verocchio, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. He protects, commissions and collects the great art of the day. Art becomes the center of Lorenzo's life in his pursuit for beauty and quest for harmony.
The wheel of history revolves, regenerating situations, personalities: new artists, new art, new patrons. Upon entering the 20th century, the person who stands out as the greatest collector of art is Nelson Rockefeller. His ecumenical interest in art includes the early 20th century European cubism, futurism, expressionism, American abstract expressionism, as well as African and Mexican Folk Art.
The majority of art work that Rockefeller collected formed the bulk of his private collection in Pocantico, his home in upstate New York near Tarrytown. After his death, a substantial part of the collection was inherited by the Museum of Modern Art, but the rest remains in Pocantico. From this collection, 17 works are presently on display at the Hood Museum.
Rockefeller's interest in art collecting is inspired by his mother, Abby Aldrich. In the late 1920s she started collecting contemporary art and later laid the foundation for the Museum of Modern Art.
As a patron, Rockefeller strives to protect, collect and exhibit modern and contemporary art, creating ways for it to reach the public. Thus, collecting art is understood in humanistic terms as conservation, preservation and the unveiling of art. This idea is very overtly expressed in what Rockefeller chose to collect, contemporary unknown and unaccredited art.
"Some great artists died before their greatness was understood, and many of them had to toil away in poverty until they were past their prime before enjoying the rewards of their imagination and accomplishment," Rockefeller wrote.
For Rockefeller, art patronage is not self-centered or closely tied with personal appreciation. Rather it is linked to the higher goal of making contemporary art public, conspicuous, present in its own day. This attempt finds expression in the public collections, organized by Rockefeller, in his participation in the foundation of the Museum of Modern Art, in his numerous exhibitions of his private collection and ultimately in his bequests.
The exhibit, set up by Hood Museum Director Timothy Rub, accompanies a series of events marking the 10th anniversary of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for the Social Sciences at the College.
The principle unifying the different pieces of art is their time period, the 1950s and 1960s. The works belong to the school of abstract expressionism and explore different media including bronze, oil painting and welded metal.
This richness of media is one of the dominant criteria that determined the character of Rockefeller's collection. "What attracts me most about the art of our time is its validity - the way it explores new possibilities and makes use of new materials," Rockefeller said after his inauguration as the second President of the Museum of Modern Art in 1939.
The artists shown in the Hood Museum form the core of the Rockefeller Contemporary Art collection. The sculptors, Seymour Lipton, David Smith, Marisol and Alexander Calder; painters, Grace Hartigan, James Brooks andTomlin. The works of art on exhibit are diverse in artists, media, schools and styles. Yet, this art is uniform in its modernity, unique in its expression and Catholic in its appeals.
There is a certain sense of freedom, even a carefree approach to art created by this outward absence of strict systematization so characteristic of museum exhibits. The art from a private collection is the art emanating the sense of appreciation -- an order determined by feeling, not by facts. The exhibit at The Hood has managed to regenerate this atmosphere.
