Sometimes when I give tours of the Museum to people, they ask me what my favorite historic artwork in the permanent collection is. Although I do have a few I’ve always enjoyed, I’ve reached the point where my stock answer is that I don’t have any favorites, yet many hold important memories.
It’s not just a line. While I enjoy viewing and studying the many paintings, sculptures, and drawings the Museum has acquired in the past several years, these works also represent moments in time for me in my roles at the Woodson. Walking through the “New to the Collection” gallery at the Museum is a perfect example of that.
Whether it is Camille Pissarro’s The Pond at Montfoucault or Françoise Gilot’s View of Venice, I can study the works for only so long before I think about the process of acquiring each work. I won’t get too far behind the curtain here, but even a quick glance and I’m taken back to the main auction room at Christie’s, or to being on the phone with a representative of another auction house, or to seeing the work for the first time at The Winter Show before approaching the gallery showing the work.
Gilot (left) and Pissarro (right)
Waiting for our lot at Christie’s
Here, an intrepid gallerist works her magic at The Winter Show in New York
These memories remain special for me, and I’m sure it’s the same for assistant director and collections curator Amalia Wojciechowski. Actively studying the ever-changing art market, taking stock of the Museum’s collection and areas we can enhance, and soliciting approval from the Museum’s Collections Committee for potential acquisitions is an elaborate process. Sometimes it can be frustrating when you target a perfect artwork for the Museum only to see the final price exceed the budget you set to acquire it.
It is unbelievably gratifying when the auctioneer’s hammer falls, or the handshake is made, and we know we were a small part of acquiring a treasure that can be enjoyed by generations of future Woodson Art Museum visitors.
In short, I will continue to defer when I’m asked the question about which artwork or artworks in the collection are my favorite, not because I don’t have feelings about them, but because I care about each in its own special way. I can only hope there are more great memories to come.
