Do museums that focus on American art need a new support group?
That idea was floated the other day by Andrew J. Walker, the incoming director of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, who starts his job in earnest on April 1.
Walker, who moved to Texas from his post as assistant director of curatorial affairs at the St. Louis Art Museum, told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that “he hopes to encourage a collaborative relationship of loans and exhibitions with museums such as the Whitney Museum of American art in New York; the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, scheduled to open in November in Bentonville, Ark.; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia; the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; and others, to the benefit of all, with the Carter in the lead.”
The Carter in the lead, he said, because it stands “taller” than the others, given its collection of masterworks.
It’s neither a bad idea, nor a great one — because these partnerships tend to develop among museums of similar size and quality anyway.
I’m all for starting exchanges, creating great exhibits of American art, and talking up American art, but I suggest that Walker somehow figure out how to include smaller, less well-endowed museums of American art, because they tend to need partnerships more. They don’t have the goods that draw audiences. Maybe the loan of just one master painting, which I’ve written about before here and here, would help.
But I like that Walker seems to be signaling that he’s going to be a big booster of American art, which the Carter — celebrating its 50th year — owns a great collection of.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Amon Carter Museum