Lauding Lauder: The Consummate Museum Benefactor Dies at 92

I’ve been unpardonably remiss about this (having been uncharacteristically off-blog for two months). But I must belatedly add my voice to the encomiums heaped upon the late Leonard Lauder, who died on June 14, which was both Flag Day and the day before Father’s Day—a fitting time to celebrate the the legacy of an extraordinary museum patron who helped the Whitney Museum acquire Three Flags, Jasper Johns‘ magnum opus, and later served as the museum’s chairman emeritus, for whom its Renzo Piano–designed building in NYC’s downtown Meatpacking District was named.

In a NY Times interview with veteran art-market reporter Carol Vogel, Lauder had declared that his quest for coveted artworks “keeps me alive. I don’t want to stop.” Six months after that article was published, he was gone at age 92.

The Whitney’s 2016 announcement of the naming of its new downtown building had credited Lauder with helping the museum to “acquire 948 works of art, 760 of which he gifted personally; an additional 188 were brought in with the assistance of acquisition committees and other generous collectors. His 2002 donation of 125 works transformed the collection with iconic works by Abstract Expressionist, Pop, and Minimalist artists. These gifts have included major works by artists such as Jasper Johns, Agnes Martin, Louise Nevelson, Claes Oldenburg, Ad Reinhardt, Mark Rothko, Ed Ruscha, Kiki Smith, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol [in alphabetical order]. Mr. Lauder’s vision and largesse has helped the Whitney become the preeminent museum of modern and contemporary American art.”

Lauder was much more than a mere museum patron. For both the Whitney Museum and the Metropolitan Museum, he was a patron saint.

At the Met, he bestowed what then director Tom Campbell called (with no hyperbole) “a truly transformational gift”—the pledge by of 78 works, including 33 by Picasso, 17 by Braque, 14 by Gris, and 14 by Léger. The gift was to be accompanied by the establishment of a new Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, bankrolled with a $22-million endowment, contributed by Lauder and other Met trustees and patrons.

Here’s my copy of the 381-page catalogue from 2014, published in conjunction with the Met’s inaugural show of Lauder’s benefactions:

With contributions from major modern-art scholars, the catalogue had two editors: Emily Braun, Lauder’s longtime personal curator…

…and Rebecca Rabinow, then the Met’s Leonard Lauder Curator of modern art and curator in charge of the Met’s Leonard Lauder Research Center for Modern Art:

I may have been the first journalist to learn (in an oblique way) about Lauder’s intention to give the Met his Cubist trove. In my CultureGrrl putdown of what I called, “The Met’s So-So Picasso Show”—a lackluster 2010 agglomeration of the museum’s Picasso holdings, I had mentioned that the Met’s trove “can’t hold a candle to what can be seen in the permanent-collection galleries of a certain modern art museum situated a mile downtown.” At the press preview for the Met’s misfire, Tom Campbell, the museum’s then director, had asked me what I thought of that show.

Here’s part of what I wrote in my CultureGrrl post about that conversation:

When Campbell greeted me at the press preview, I mentioned the near-dearth of great Analytic Cubist paintings. “You’re right,” he agreed. “We’re working on it. See us in 15 years’ time.”

At first, I was dumbfounded. Then I thought of the one collector who probably possessed a collection that could make things right:

“LEONARD LAUDER!” I exclaimed.

Tom’s stony silence when I suggested who could make up for the Met’s gaping Picasso deficit told me all that I needed to know: I had likely guessed right.

Below is where you need to go to see the offspring that resulted from that long courtship:

I recently made pilgrimage to those galleries, directly after attending a recent preview of the Met’s newly installed Michael Rockefeller Wing.

Below are just a few highlights from the Lauder trove (photos by Lee Rosenbaum):

Reflecting the enormity of Lauder’s contributions, the Met published in the NY Times‘ classified obituaries what was perhaps the most effusive post-mortem tribute to a museum patron that I’ve ever seen.

An excerpt:

His landmark contribution of the Leonard A. Lauder Cubist Collection–comprising iconic works by Picasso, Braque, Léger, and Gris–instantly established the Museum as a world leader in the study and presentation of early 20th-century art. At the same time, his generosity established the Leonard A. Lauder Research Center for Modern Art, which continues to foster a vibrant, ever-growing community for both emerging and veteran scholars in the field.

His extraordinary generosity, insight, and unwavering commitment to art and its capacity to inspire and educate have left an indelible mark on this institution and on all of us privileged to know him.

Rest in Peace, Leonard!
May your memory be a blessing.