Maurice Wertheim: Investment Banker and Art Curator
Maurice Wertheim was a graduate of Harvard who went on to pursue a career in investment banking. In 1927, he founded his own investment firm Wertheim & Co (Maurice Wertheim). The Jewish businessman’s personal interests ranged from philanthropy to nature conservancy, and Wertheim was an extremely passionate chess player (Maurice Wertheim). In fact, he led the United States’ chess team as captain at the 1947 Olympic games (Wertheim Collection). Although this might seem like an unlikely introduction for an art curator, Wertheim grew a strong interest for the arts later in his life and he actually acquired a collection of invaluable artwork. After Wertheim’s death, the 43 works in his collection were donated to Harvard University, and the works are now on permanent display at the Harvard Art Museums.
Wertheim’s private collection includes works by renowned artists such as Picasso, van Gogh, Monet, Degas, and Renoir. While most of these pieces are oil on canvas paintings, the collection also includes several bronze sculptures. The exhibit at the Harvard Art Museums is arranged so that the oil paintings hang on the four walls of the room and the bronze sculptures are positioned away from the walls, to the left and right of the entrance. Each of the oil paintings had an extravagant gold frame, giving the entire exhibit a sense of luxury. As a viewer, I was completely immersed in this collection as soon as I walked in, and it was as if I had suddenly stepped into Wertheim’s world.
When Wertheim decided to leave his collection to the university, he requested for all the artwork to be displayed together in a single room. This decision allowed Wertheim to continue his role as curator even after his death, limiting our abilities today to rearrange any of his artwork. Although this preserves Wertheim’s collection and allows us to represent it in full, it also leaves out possibilities of including different pieces of art. Museum curators might have considered presenting corresponding or complimentary artwork to the pieces in Wertheim’s collection to drive conversations of comparison and analysis. This would have allowed the exhibit to be a more dynamically creative work, rather than a simply static, unchanging product of Wertheim’s time and culture.
In the exhibit, each of the pieces on display was accompanied by a short descriptive text. Most of the captions provided a brief explanation of the artwork, including the broader historical context of the work and the deliberate choices made by the artist when creating the piece. Interestingly, none of the texts explained why Wertheim selected the pieces for his collection, leaving many of the curator’s personal choices shrouded in mystery. Perhaps Wertheim simply chose these pieces because he felt strongly about the artists or the artwork from a particular time period. An article in The Harvard Crimson suggested that Wertheim considered the “future maximum teaching usefulness” of his collection as he added different pieces (Fogg Gets 'Fabulous' Art Collection; 18 Modern Artists' Works Included). The museum curators seemed to have honored his decision for the artwork to be used as tools for teaching with the didactic captions accompanying each piece. A few of these texts also included a note on Wertheim’s role in acquiring a specific piece of art. For example, the description of Pierre Bonnard’s painting Interior with Still Life of Fruit stated that, “it was the last piece [Wertheim] added to his collection before his death.” Thus the exhibit continues to stand in honor of Wertheim’s life, commemorating this man and his contribution to the study of the arts.
Today, just as in the past, art remains an important part of our cultural and intellectual studies. While this art collection can be seen as a symbol of Wertheim’s wealth and status in society, it also signifies the value of art in the scholarly world. Wertheim may have started the collection for his own pleasure and enjoyment, but it has continued to be held in high regard by scholars and students alike. Furthermore, the appreciation of Wertheim’s art goes beyond artistic and cultural analysis, as the collection reveals a unique history of this curator’s life. Each piece of art marks a time point in Wertheim’s life, providing a lens through which we can better understand his world. Whether we venture to the Harvard Art Museums to study specific pieces of art or to learn more about a particular artist or curator, it is important to realize the historical and cultural influences that have shaped them. The exhibit of Wertheim’s collection encourages us to explore these possibilities as it displays the art with hints to the curator's past scattered throughout the room.
Works Cited:
Fogg Gets 'Fabulous' Art Collection; 18 Modern Artists' Works Included. (1950, June 9). Retrieved from http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1950/6/9/fogg-gets-fabulous-art-collection-18/.
Maurice Wertheim. (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.worldheritage.org/articles/Maurice_Wertheim.
Wertheim Collection. (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/tour/wertheim-collection.