[ePub] The Capitalist and the Critic: J. P. Morgan; Roger Fry; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Charles Molesworth at Arts-Photography

Review

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Office politics at the MetBy Ethan CooperTHE CAPITALIST AND THE CRITIC was an impulse buy at my local bookstore. where this bookrsquo;s winning cover grabbed my attention. This cover features a blanched 1900 photograph of the Metropolitan Museum of Art; Edward Steichenrsquo;s famous 1903 photo of J.P. Morgan. when this colossus of Americarsquo;s Gilded Age was at the peak of his powers; and a self-portrait. finished in 1934. by Roger Fry. who was a member of the Bloomsbury Group and an influential votary of post-impressionist art. My wife and I often go the Met. But I didnrsquo;t know that Morgan was once the President of the Museummdash;he has his own museum. after allmdash;and that he hired Fry to work as the Metrsquo;s Curator of Paintings. ldquo;So how did that work out?rdquo; I wondered.Well. it turns out that Morgan and Fry worked together for about two years. Prevenient to this partnership. there was a fraught hiring process. Then. once he was on board. Fry found that the imperious Morgan. who was then devoted to collecting European Art. would buy a superb Italian Renaissance painting for himself and good painting for the Met. In Fryrsquo;s opinion. Morgan. the collector. was competing with the museum that he headed. It couldnrsquo;t last.IMO. this book is strongest as it discusses Morgan and his enduring effect on the museum. You know the period rooms? The armor? The Egyptian wing? Well. the period rooms are filled with objets drsquo;art that the omnivorous Morgan collected. Morgan also acquired the armor. And late in his life. Morgan became obsessed with Egyptian art. Anyway. his big concept was an ldquo;encyclopedicrdquo; museum and Morgan certainly pushed the Met in that direction. But for some of us. these are three of the museumrsquo;s dullest collections. although the period rooms come to life when they stage shows from the Costume Institute.At the same time. this book merely touches on a subject that is truly fascinating. which is: How did the Met build its vast collection of paintings? This. of course. is not the story that Charles Molesworth chose to write. Even so. the subject does arise. And then. a reader learns such stuff as:o When Fry joined the museum. its collection of paintings was a hodgepodge of gifts. many from the trustees. Unfortunately. some of these canvasses were undistinguished. And Fry. a connoisseur. started the process of reorganizing and culling the collection. which did not please everyone.o Fry incurred the wrath of the Board when he acquired a beloved Renoir. ldquo;Madame Georges Charpentier and Her Children.rdquo; The reasons? Fry did not comply with the Metrsquo;s system for acquiring paintings. which was dominated by the Board. And at that time. many trustees did not appreciate Impressionism.o Nowadays. the Met is extremely proud of its Rembrandt masterpiece ldquo;Aristotle with a Bust of Homer.rdquo; which it acquired 1961. Morgan. in his day. passed on this acquisition.THE CAPITALIST AND THE CRITIC is not always fascinating. In particular. it has too many pages of exegesis on Fryrsquo;s now obsolete theories of art. Regardless. a pretty good book and I round up.4 of 5 people found the following review helpful. Not Worth BuyingBy Edward A. MainzerThe Capitalist and the Critic is an essay on the intersection of art and business based on secondary sources. not a volume of original research. Limited scholarship is matched by awkward writing so at times the author bogs down in over extended quotations (running many lines) while in other cases source notes indicate the author used as ldquo;researchrdquo; popular websites including those of the Morgan Library and Museum. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Tate Britain and Wikipedia! The volume also at times presents questionable claims. Thus wersquo;re told for example that ldquo;the Arts and Crafts movementrdquo; was ldquo;ledrdquo; by William Morris. which is at best misleading characterization of Morrisrsquo; role with its implication that there was an organized body of which he was the head. and that William Caxton was "one of the earliest of Englands great producers of illuminated books." when in fact Caxton is the earliest known printer of books in England. Despite its title the author gives far more attention to Fry than Morgan (who does not make any meaningful appearance in the last third of the volume) and its subtitle notwithstanding. the book is only tangentially concerned with the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Those interested in the history of that institution will do much better to go directly to Calvin Tomkinsrsquo; Merchants and Masterpieces (revised ed.. 1989). which includes discussion of both Morgan and Fry and is frequently given as a source by Molesworth. Although there are black-and-white illustrations in the text (there are no glossy plates) none of the works of art referenced in the volume are reproduced in it. In addition to the end notes there is a bibliography (totaling only four pages) and an index.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. CriticalBy Christian SchlectI had trouble finding the unifying theme of this effort. one split between remarks on J.P. Morgan. Roger Fry. and the Metropolitan Museum. I know they all came together for a brief time. but this seems worthy of an article in a journal not a book.The author appears mostly inclined to teach the reader about the life and work of Roger Fry. but brings in the big money guy Morgan and his pet project the Met to fill out the pages. Each are worthy of separate books (and have them). but the combined effort here seems a trifle weak to me.