Abby Aldrich Rockefeller – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum

“… a nation without humor is not only sad but dangerous”
– Abby Aldrich Rockefeller

 

Eighty-nine years ago, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874-1948) placed her collection of American folk art on loan to Colonial Williamsburg, a transformational act that led to the formation of a world-class museum named in her honor. Today, the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (AARFAM) is the oldest institution in this country devoted exclusively to the study and appreciation of American folk material. AARFAM contains eleven galleries with innovative rotating exhibitions on folk painting, drawing, sculpture, metalwork, pottery, painted furniture, textiles, and toys. As part of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, the collection resides alongside the exceptional DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Collection. The two museum holdings comprise more than 70,000 examples of American and British material bringing together a rich assemblage of folk, fine, decorative, and mechanical arts under one roof (fig. 1).

The nucleus of the AARFAM was formed by Abby Rockefeller (fig. 2), a pioneer collector in the fields of American folk and modern art. Rockefeller began collecting in the 1920s, undoubtedly influenced by an upbringing that fostered art appreciation. The daughter of Senator Nelson Aldrich and Abby Chapman Aldrich of Providence, Rhode Island, Rockefeller was reared in an environment that supported education and learning. Her father’s extensive library and painting collections were ripe for the young girl’s inquisitive mind and were complemented by family trips to art museums and galleries in Washington D.C., England, and Europe.

In 1901, she married John D. Rockefeller Jr., son of the founder of Standard Oil Company. The Rockefellers supported numerous public and social causes, with a special interest in historical and educational endeavors, notably the restoration of the eighteenth-century colonial capital at Williamsburg, Virginia.

 

Abby Rockefeller’s interest in American folk art was the direct result of her appreciation for contemporary art. She took pleasure in discovering and acquiring the work of unrecognized talent and was a founder and active supporter of the Museum of Modern Art, often patronizing many of the artists who exhibited there. Early twentieth-century painters and sculptors were, in fact, the first to recognize the aesthetic value of American folk art, seeing a relationship between it and their own creative efforts. By the 1920s, excitement over the connections between the two artistic forms began to stir a group of important dealers, collectors, and scholars who would help to shape public opinion and Rockefeller’s personal taste. Chief among them was Edith Gregor Halpert who became Rockefeller’s single greatest source of folk material (fig. 3).

The two women became acquainted after Rockefeller discovered Halpert’s gallery, noted as the first commercial art space in Greenwich Village. At first, the Downtown Gallery solely represented living artists, but within a few years, Halpert’s offerings extended to American folk art. By no coincidence, her husband Sam Halpert was a member of the Ogunquit Colony in Maine, a school of modernist painters and sculptors.

A few early art installations introduced American folk painting and sculpture to viewers, but arguably the most influential exhibition was The Art of the Common Man in America: 1750-1900. Organized by Newark Museum curator Holger Cahill in 1932, it was comprised of American folk art anonymously loaned by Rockefeller, introducing for the first time an important private collection on a national level. After an opening at the Museum of Modern Art, over 170 objects traveled to cities around the country, providing broad exposure to the general public.

During this time, Rockefeller visited Virginia and toured the Ludwell-Paradise House, a building her husband helped to acquire for the restoration efforts at Williamsburg. Recently restored, it was agreed that the handsome brick dwelling provided the perfect location along the town’s historic Duke of Gloucester Street to showcase a more comprehensive selection of Rockefeller’s holdings. Beyond their aesthetic appeal, her folk art could help to educate visitors about the lives of earlier Americans, complementing her interpretation of the colonial era. On March 31, 1935, an exhibition of Rockefeller’s collection officially opened at Williamsburg, becoming the country’s first structure devoted exclusively to the public display of American folk art (fig. 4).

Four years later, Rockefeller’s generous loan became a permanent gift ensuring the future of the collection. Today, we celebrate her vision and foresight in collecting first-rate examples of American folk art. Not only did she establish a recognition and interest in folk material, but she also introduced a body of paintings and artifacts that reflected a broader picture of the American past. Since Rockefeller’s donation, the collection has expanded exponentially but is nevertheless representative of the forms, motivations, and expressions that initially inspired her to collect. True to this day and in Abby Rockefeller’s own words, art “is one of the great resources of life. . . it enriches the spiritual life and makes one more sane and sympathetic, more observant, and understanding, as well as being good for one’s nerves.”

 

See the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum (AARFAM) at www.colonialwilliamsburg.org for information about exhibits, events, and community activities or visit us at 301 South Nassau Street, Williamsburg, VA

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By Laura Pass Barry, Juli Grainger Curator of Paintings, Drawing, and Sculpture, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.