Mrs. Rockefeller Gives Paintings to College
A valuable art collection, characterized as "perhaps the most comprehensive collection of contemporary painting now in the possession of any college," was presented to Dartmouth College by Mrs. John D. Rockefeller Jr., early in March. The artists represented in the gift from Mrs. Rockefeller's private collection are mostly contemporary Americans, headed by Thomas Eakins, whose full-length portrait of an architect is considered the most valuable single item in the collection. Two important bronzes, by Georg Kolbe and Charles Despiau, are also included in the gift, which is made up of oils, water colors, drawings, pastels, lithographs, and Early American pieces. A group of 28 paintings by American Indians is one of the features of the collection.
In presenting the 119 examples of modern art to the College, Mrs. Rockefeller had in mind their use for teaching rather than permanent exhibition purposes, with originals supplanting the reproductions and traveling exhibitions upon which Dartmouth has had to rely in the past. The entire collection was exhibited in the Carpenter galleries during the last three weeks in March, and in the future various sections will be exhibited from time to time.
Among the better known artists represented in the Rockefeller gift are George C. Ault, Peggy Bacon, Gifford Beal, Alexander Brook, James Chapin, Stuart Davis, Charles Demuth, Charles Despiau, Thomas Eakins, Ernest Fiene, Foujita, Emil Ganso, Constantin Guys, George ("Pop") Hart, Stefan Hirsch, Charles Hopkinson, Bernard Karfiol, Georg Kolbe, Henri Fantin-Latour, Luigi Lucioni, Carlos Merida, Jules Pascin, George Picken, Joseph Pollet, H. E. Schnakenberg, Abraham Walkowitz, Max Weber, and Denys Wortman.
The Early American pieces include paintings on velvet, glass and tin; several Pennsylvania German quill paintings; a scrimshaw etching of Commodore Perry on ivory; a wood carving of an early baseball player and a bullet-riddled weathervane of General McClellan. An anonymous oil portrait of Daniel Webster is also contained in the collection.
