Decorative Arts Gift to National Gallery

I am just back from the AAA Conference in NYC.  I had an excellent time in NY, the conference was excellent, i met a lot of interesting and talented appraisers and the weather was fantastic. I look forward to next years conference and law day.

As I was reading the Washington Post on the train to NY there was an article on the donation of the George and Lind Kaufman collection to the National Gallery of Art.  The collection consists of a great collection of American furniture as well as 35 paintings. It is always hard to find interesting and national news on the decorative arts when compared to fine art.  I have many appraisers ask for more trending information and posts on the dec arts. Unfortunately there are fewer articles of interest or noteworthy news on the decorative arts than what can be found for fine art.  Part of the interest in fine art is because of the huge dollars associated with the sales, such as the recent sales of contemporary art in New York which totaled over $1 billion (more on that in my next post), and also the rich and famous who collect. But I also am disturbed when a large collection of decorative arts, worth several hundred million dollars is donated to the National Gallery and it is relegated to page C7 of the hometown newspaper, the Washington Post.

The collection of furniture should greatly increase the interest, and the holdings of decorative arts for the National Gallery.  I am so pleased to see this great collection go to the NGA, and according to the Washington Post it is the first extensive gift of Dec Arts to the gallery since 1941. Many of the pieces should by on exhibit within two years.

The Washington Post reports

Several significant furniture centers or cabinetmakers are represented in the collection. A nest of tables, attributed to John and Thomas Seymour, was created between 1790 and 1810 in a Federal style. A Chippendale desk and bookcase, made around 1765 in Philadelphia, are attributed to Thomas Affleck. A Neoclassical Federal carved mahogany couch was made in New York between 1805 and 1820 and attributed to Duncan Phyfe. A mahogany Chippendale tea table was made in Newport, R.I., around 1755-65 and attributed to John Townsend and John Goddard.

Wendy Cooper, senior curator of furniture at Winterthur Museum, has worked with the Kaufmans over the years and said they wanted their objects accessible to the country. "No one institution, none of them could have taken that collection in total. They don't have the room to show it all. This is the perfect solution."

The donors have been associated with the gallery since the early 1980s and an exhibition of their furniture collection was mounted at the museum in 1986 and 1987. George Kaufman, who died in 2001, was a banker, investor and founder of Guest Quarters. Linda H. Kaufman has continued the family's active support of several museums and served on several of the gallery's leadership committees.

"We always wanted to give the collection to the American people. The National Gallery of Art will be the ideal home,'' Kaufman said in a statement.

To read the full Washington Post article, click HERE.