Kindred Spirits: Alice Walton and Linda Ferber

Planned East Entrance of New-York Historical Society

Can someone whose first loyalties are to one museum of American art serve without conflict on the board of another?

The New-York Historical Society apparently thinks so. Philip Boroff of Bloomberg reports that Alice Walton, founder and president of the planned Crystal Bridges Museum, Bentonville, AR, has been named to the N-YHS's board. The Society's announcement is here.

The Society's vice president and museum director, Linda Ferber, was the organizer of the "Kindred Spirits" show of Asher B. Durand's landscapes, which she conceived while chairman of the American art department at the Brooklyn Museum, where the show opened last spring. After Ferber had decided to name that exhibition for the artist's iconic work, it controversially changed hands, for a reported $35 million, from the New York Public Library's collection to Alice Walton's.

Walton agreed to allow her new acquisition to tour with the show, as planned. The final stop is the San Diego Museum of Art, Feb. 2-Apr. 27. Will the painting, depicting painter Thomas Cole and his friend, writer William Cullen Bryant, next be loaned to Ferber's current institution? I've got a call in; I'll update when I have an answer. (SEE BELOW)

The Society has beefed up its board with four additional big-money members, as it gears up for a big capital project. As part of its 10-year strategic plan, the society is redoing its façade (above) and is planning to renovate its current building, expand its facilities and participate in construction of a residential tower adjoining its building.

And guess what? The neighbors don't like it.

UPDATE: This just in from the N-YHS press office: "At this point, there are no plans for 'Kindred Spirits' to come to the New-York Historical Society."