The Private Collector's Museum: Public Good Versus Private Gain

Description

The Private Collector’s Museum connects the rising popularity of private museums with evolving models of collecting and philanthropy, and new inter-relationships between private and public space. It examines how contemporary collectors construct museums to frame themselves as cultural arbiters of global distinction. By exploring a range of in-depth contemporary case studies, the book aims for a more complex understanding of the private collector’s museum, assessing how it is realised, funded and understood in a broader cultural context. It examines the ways in which this particular museum model has evolved within a historical Western tradition of collecting and museum-building, and considers how private museums will endure alongside their public counterparts. It also sheds light on the shifting patterns of collecting, such as the transition of personal art collections into the public sphere. The developments are situated within the wider context of private–public engagement in general. Providing a new analysis of philanthropy, public access and the museum, The Private Collector’s Museum is essential reading for scholars and students interested in the private museum, and key reading for those interested in related issues. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of contents Figures Chronological listing of key private museums Acknowledgements Part I Overview 1 Setting the foundation: Self-glorification is a small price to pay for philanthropy Fostering a culture of ‘giving’ – then and now Other models of arts philanthropy The complexity of tax-funded philanthropy Conclusion Notes 2 Private collecting: Collecting in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries Background: building America’s cultural reputation In pursuit of cultural prestige: Wallace Collection, London (1897) Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), Hobart, Tasmania (2011) Conclusion Notes Part II The private collector’s museum 3 Where house and art museum converge Quasi-museum and residence: Foundation E.G. Bührle Collection, Zürich (1960–2015) Overview Background Building the collection The villa The posthumous bequest Relocating the house museum ‘Private lived-in collections’ ‘A new type of building’: Lyon Housemuseum, Melbourne (2009) Housemuseum Galleries (2019) Sphere of influence Conclusion Notes 4 Subverting the notion of the house museum The transition from villa to public museum: the Oskar Reinhart Collection ‘Am Römerholz’, Winterthur, Switzerland (1970) Overview Two collections – two foundations Creating a collection with the house in mind Perpetuating one’s own legacy Collection house or museum? Overview Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland (2006) Private or public? Creating a private-public museum The segregation of private and public: Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf (2007) and Boros Collection, Berlin, ... Overview A house museum with an exhibition space attached: Julia Stoschek Collection Boros Collection The Bunker Subverting the house museum Conclusion Notes 5 The emergence of the stand-alone museum: Museum Folkwang, Hagen (1902–1921) and Essen, Germany (1922) Osthaus the collector, the patron and the educator A hybrid of private and public: Museum Folkwang, Essen (1922) A hybrid of private, corporate and public Conclusion Notes Part III The (re)emergence of the single patron collection museum 6 The German model of the private-public art museum The repositioning of German art museums Private-public partnerships since 1990 Conclusion Notes 7 The private-public collection museum: Museum Brandhorst, Munich (2009) and Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden ... Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany (2009) Terms of the agreement The collector’s museum A complex relationship between private and public Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden, Germany (2004) A private foundation museum A clear demarcation of private and public Conclusion Notes 8 In defiance of the monumental museum: Menil Collection, Houston, USA (1987) John and Dominique de Menil De Menils the experimentalists, the collectors and their exhibitions Jermayne MacAgy – a new way of seeing Considering a museum The Menil Collection: ‘big inside and small outside’ The de Menil home within the museum Funding the collector’s museum Institutionalising ‘the Menil way’ Conclusion Notes 9 The new museum and its creator’s grand plan: The Broad, Los Angeles, USA (2015) Overview Broad the man, the collector and the philanthropist Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) The Broad on Grand Avenue The economics of the private art museum Conclusion Notes Conclusions: Evolving philanthropic conventions How financially sustainable is the private collector’s museum? Art collecting and philanthropy Conclusions: the private collector’s museum in the twenty-first century Notes Select bibliography Primary sources Secondary literature Index