THE PHOENIX ART MUSEUM

Jon Borgzinner, ART EDITOR of Time magazine, has written of the Phoenix Art Museum: "The last thing usually said about a museum is that it has vitality. However, today's art-public demands it and this museum has it and it will make it great." Exalted praise, indeed. Yet, the true maturity of any aspiring metropolis can be measured by the manner in which it reacts to cultural achievement and ambition.

On that day when the Phoenix Art Museum opened its first unit of development, a guard stood watching the hordes of citizens pouring in, eager to see a Courbet or a Van Dyck, a Rodin sculpture, a Thorne Miniature Room, an ancient Chinese carved wood figure of the Kuan Yin, Sung Dynasty; everything in fact. He was astonished at the size of the crowd, attentive to the appreciative comments. Then as if no longer in doubt he turned to a colleague. "Now," he said, pausing briefly for the inhalation of pride, "now, Phoenix is a city."

THE EVOLVEMENT OF THE ART MUSEUM is unmistakably Phoenician in character. Once the barriers began to topple, once the pendulum had swung with immense emotional pull for the museum, acceleration became the leading patron.

In November of 1965 the doors were officially opened on the newly expanded museum. The original plant, which began operation in 1959, covered some 25,000 square feet at a cost of $500,000.

Architecturally, the building is a sumptuously appointed structure, physically beautiful, southwestern in temperament and devoted fully to the appreciative and the creative, fitting in snugly with the concept of a unified cultural center.

There is a great deal that is unique about the Phoenix Art Museum, much that is fabulous in the true sense of the word. And, like all events that culminate in success, or failure, there is a chronology flecked with many avenues of interest.

The lineage of this stuccoed edifice, ideally situated in downtown Phoenix, ends on the northwest corner of Coronado Road and Central Avenue, but the saga begins in another place. Another time.

TRAVEL BACK IN IMAGINATION ΤΟ 1915. Arizona had been a state for only three years. The population of Phoenix was approximately 25,000 and its flirtation with the world of fine arts, politely stated, was limited.

The cultural incentive that existed was supplied by the Woman's Club, or, more pointedly, by the Club's Art Exhibition Committee, a board formed to improve the quality of works shown at the Arizona State Fair.

The Committee encouraged better awards for the more promising artists and began the start of a municipal art collection by arranging for the city to purchase, on an annual basis, one of the paintings exhibited.

A distinguished citizen, the late Mrs. Dwight B. Heard, was the galvanizing force behind the Committee and the subsequent changes it underwent, although she accepted no office.

Certainly an appreciation of the fine arts was a prerequisite for any plans that considered a future museum for the city. Consequently, in 1925 the Art Exhibition Committee was dissolved and replaced by "The Phoenix Art Association." Now the aim was to foster and promote art interests in the community, to acquire works of art and to establish and maintain an art gallery.

In 1940 Mrs. Heard, representing the heirs of the Bartlett Estate, gave to the city a sizable gift of land at the intersection of McDowell Road and Central Avenue, Phoenix's main traffic artery. The land was to accommodate a Little Theatre, a Public Library, and a building devoted to fine arts. The property was to be under the control of a Civic Center Management Board.

The grant was a challenge as much as an impressively generous bequest.

The land was such a bonanza that the Civic Center Association came into existence, with the aim of developing plans for utilizing the property and raising necessary funds. A goal of $1,000,000 was set, but World War II put a temporary cramp into the projected plan.

In 1946 the drive to raise funds commenced. It pro-duced less than one-third of the desired amount, but this sum was put to wise use. Three property lots not in the Bartlett bequest were purchased, thus inspiring the Civic Center of one square city block. An engineering survey was completed, an architect selected and employed, and aid given in promoting a municipal bond election, includ-ing funds to complete the financing of the Public Library. The Phoenix Little Theatre was appropriated its share of the money raised and granted a loan to be repaid after the retirement of the building bonds.

In 1955 saw one more link forged. The Civic Center Association dissolved after transferring all of its remaining assets to The Phoenix Fine Arts Association.

THE SELECTION OF THE MUSEUM'S DIRECTOR continually occupied the thoughts of the Association. Phoenix was in a transistory stage; not yet a city of metro-politan proportion, although it was heading that way - not completely free of a certain rustic implication. The man selected would have to recognize that he was not coming into a situation that already existed, that is to say, a long-established museum with a tradition and heritage. Quite the reverse. And it would be his responsibility to develop and build from within. Chairman of the Executive Committee, Walter R. Bimson, and president of the Association's Board of Trus-tees, George C. Bright, eventually decided to offer the post to a professor at the Albright School of Art, Uni-versity of Buffalo, Dr. F. M. Hinkhouse.

Dr. Hinkhouse was then in his mid-thirties. A native of Iowa, alumnus of Coe College, Cedar Rapids, he had studied management at Harvard's Fogg Museum and won his doctorate at the University of Madrid, where he did extensive research into the life and work of Alonso Sanchez Coello, a contemporary of El Greco. George Bright had also studied at the Fogg Museum prior to coming to Arizona for his health, so there was a basis for easy discussion. Dr. Hinkhouse made two trips to Phoenix before making his decision. The then-existent "gallery" would have turned most homeward.

The total valuation of the works housed in that dreary building hit a low of $3,000. Some claimed it was close to $6,000. Either way, it was a bleak introduction to the art life of a mushrooming city and seemed to imply that intellectual aspiration was well below sea level. But the potential of the budding museum and the enthusiasm of its supporters won him over. On July 1, 1957, Dr. Hinkhouse was appointed director of the Phoenix Art Museum, making him one of the youngest museum directors in the country.

"Our selling point was that Phoenix, with a popula-tion of a quarter-million (currently the population is well over the half-million mark), was the largest city in the United States without an art museum. Citizens realized that there was a need to provide its young people with the deep spirited values of fine art. "I told the citizens of Phoenix there was no first rate art museum nearer the city than Los Angeles to the west, Mexico City to the south, Dallas to the east, and Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, to the north."

The METHOD OF RAISING MONEY for the museum took on many novel aspects. Galleries and com-ponent units were financed separately. For example, a group of restaurants contributed funds to provide a kitchen, a cement block company donated its product, private families sponsored rooms. The largest gallery, at $75,000, was paid for by a bank. The Junior League financed the Children's Wing.

The ARCHITECT charged with the over-all planning of the Phoenix Civic Center was Alden B. Dow of Midland, Michigan. "To my mind any Civic Center such as Phoenix's has quality if it has three attributes. The first is honesty. Is artistic fraud involved? Culture is wonderful, but is culture enough? A civic center that has been built to satisfy motives other than that of imaginatively housing certain aspects of the elevating accomplishments of man, is on uncertain terrain to begin with. On the other hand, if the Center has been built with the honesty motive clear-cut and exact, it stands an excellent chance of fulfilling its aim. "Humility is the second consideration. Opposition to pride, rejection of haughtiness. Sincerity enters here. In the Civic Center a bauble for the wrong kind of civic pride? Is it a show place with really nothing to show? Humility can be a most constructive force, demanding as it does a graceful giving and taking. "The third point, I think, would be enthusiasm. Does the Center inspire enthusiasm - keep in mind quality - on the part of those who take part in its function?"

The points Dow stressed in general terms can be applied directly to the museum itself. It possesses all these admirable qualities.

FEVERISH TIME FOLLOWED the appointment of Dr. Hinkhouse. He was determined that the new museum would be no storehouse for artistic specimens. Over the years Phoenix had lost many an opportunity to acquire objects of art simply because the facilities available were wholly inadequate.

George Elbert Burr George Elbert Burr Assistant Director/Phoenix Art Museum

MOST NEW MUSEUMS BEGIN LIFE with a handclasp, the disadvantage being the fact that the better collections have been secured by older establishments.

On Sunday, November 15, 1959, the first construction phase of the Phoenix Art Museum met the general public. Quoting Dr. Hinkhouse, a friendly and amazingly efficient administrator, known to intimates as "Hink": "That an entirely new museum was able to open its doors to the public with exhibitions covering periods from the late 14th Century to the present day was remarkable."

The New York Times breezily took notice: "Tourists who think of the Southwest mainly in terms of motels with swimming pools, chuck wagon breakfasts, and trail rides should note that Phoenix, Arizona, opens its new $4,000,000 art museum today."

THE CITY EMBRACED ITS MUSUEM appreciatively. It was no longer a remote, inaccessible vision. By contemporary standards the museum was not large and, being of the present with one eye on the future, it lacked much of the staid, fastidious grandeur that typifies so many long-entrenched American museums.

No monumental stairway, no walls reaching forever upward, no echoing footsteps, no patina of academic dust. The Phoenix Art Museum was young, anxious and wonderfully eager.

Traveling exhibits and loan collections from major museums and private galleries from the world over played a vital role in attracting the public to the museum. "The Image of Buddhist Asia," an exhibition of Buddhist art from major Asiatic cultures, "Contemporary Mexican Art," and a score of other commanding shows soon found attendance flowering.

An exhibition entitled "One Hundred Years of French Painting, 1860-1960" brought this remark from the noted French author and Member of the French Academy, Andre Maurois, "Of all the cities that I have visited during my recent travels throughout the United States, Phoenix left the most unforgettable impression. It is a city of surprising vitality, growing in beauty and in its appreciation of the arts that the Phoenix Art Museum has been able to initiate an exhibition of this importance not only reflects great credit on the director, but is in itself of major significance in showing the growth of appreciation and understanding of art in the West."

Perhaps the strongest factor in the success of the new Phoenix Art Museum can be found not with the collections themselves, but with the people who have taken such an active interest in the museum's welfare.

THE PHOENIX ART MUSEUM is not restricted to the casual viewer who wanders in. It is, instead, a vibrant center of community activity. True enough that no two museums are alike. The Phoenix Art Museum is special in that it is a mirror image of western living, unforced and friendly. The impressive dignity of the museum is easily matched by the pleasantry which seems to engulf its sundry operations. As Dr. Hinkhouse emphasizes, "The fact that the staff is able to say with all honesty when talking to visitors, 'This is your museum,' is a firm indication of the spirit in which the museum operates."

The Phoenix Fine Arts Association is comprised of some 2000 members. The museum's Board of Trustees are the officers. But there are subdivisions that merit attention. The Art Museum League is an organization of women who raise funds throughout the year for the maintenance and operating budget. The male side of the Art Museum League is The Business and Professional Patrons of the Phoenix Art Museum, commercial enterprises both inand out-of-state. Under the League supervision is the Docent Committee. The word docent comes from the Latin verb infinitive “to teach.” Truncated, the aim of the committee is to act as tour guides for the school groups that visit the museum, to aid visitors in any way possible and to generally assist the full-time staff. The docents receive a complete instruction course prior to their assignments. The docent program is a system widely used in Scan-dinavian countries and by some museums in the United States. Dr. Hinkhouse is frank to admit that without docent help, the everyday running of the museum would suffer severely.

THE STATE ART COMMITTEE breaks down into fourteen areas of concentration: one for each county in Arizona. A county Chairwoman supervises the placing of paintings, sculpture, etchings, lithographs, etc. in schools, hospitals, and public buildings. In this way the Phoenix Art Museum is able to extend its influence throughout the entire state; into locales that are isolated and remote. The Committee has unquestioned value. The stimulation of curiosity by placing objects of beauty before a widely spread-out population greatly contributes to the aesthetic development of the state. And it's of interest to note that, although the Metropolitan area of the City of Phoenix is pushing for three-quarters of a million, some of Arizona's counties have but a few thousand residents. Without the State Art Committee's work, these underpopulated counties would be denied the cultural benefits afforded the citizens of Arizona's capital.

The Friends of Art, another auxiliary, began life in 1961 with approximately 100 members. The member-ship presently far outreaches this number. It's completely autonomous, but under the supervision of the museum's board. Its purpose is two-fold. First, to acquire works that can be added to the museum's permanent collection, and second, to assemble men and women of like avocation in an atmosphere of congeniality. The first gift made to the museum via The Friends of Art was William Merritt Chase's “White Rose,” a white pastel full-length portrait.

The museum relies mainly on the concentrated efforts of three men: Director Hinkhouse; R. D. A. Puckle, Assistant Director; and James Harithas, previously Cura-tor but now head of the Curatorial department of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. The accompanying office and maintenance staff, by contemporary standards, is comparatively modest, which makes the laudatory volunteer support of incalculable worth.

THE TRUE STRENGTH OF ANY ART MUSEUM lies in the quality of its permanent collection. In this respect the Phoenix Art Museum, beginning with the Ruskin collection of Baroque and Renaissance paintings, has legitimate cause for pride. Many art-lovers, collectors, and connoisseurs have taken delight in "adopting" the young museum. "In this respect," says Dr. Hinkhouse, "the Phoenix Art Museum has been most fortunate and, year by year, the acquisition of works of art of special interest has increased. Phoenix is, perhaps, extraordinarily lucky in being a resort town, for its long, mild winter seasons and the influx of people from all parts of the country have made the city a second home for a great many families. The result is that the Phoenix Art Museum is looked THE IDENTITY OF THE MUSEUM's largest contributtor remains a question mark. Dr. Hinkhouse admits only that it is a New York foundation with a vigorous interest in decentralization and a desire for anonymity. To be sure, it's an arbitrary task to select the best of any permanent collection. But some pieces in the Phoenix Art Museum are certainly commanding: The portrait of Madame Adelaide de France by Mme. Adelaide Labille-Guiard (the companion piece is at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City), Jean Baptiste Greuze's "Portrait of the Duchess De Choiseul," Van Dyke's "The Holy Family." In sculpture: one of the seven castings of Rodin's "The Kiss," Francois Rude's "Gaullois," and Antonio Canova's "The Boxer Kreugas."

upon as a personal project by many of these families, and the acquisition of some really notable paintings, that might otherwise not have found their way here. "Many individuals and foundations with no strong ties with Arizona have sensed the significance of this new museum. Gifts from such widespread sources have been most notable. We have patrons in Monte Carlo, in Zurich, in Nassau, in Palm Beach, in Newport as well as New York, to mention a few." "There was a time," states Walter Bimson, a commanding presence where the museum is concerned, "when the world thought that London, Paris, and Rome had the last word as far as the art market went. All that is changing. Things are moving westward. New York and Los Angeles have already taken much of the business. One point of view has it that Phoenix is the perfect place, the ideal location, to be the Paris of the former London-ParisRome axis. I couldn't agree more."

The Phoenix Art Museum is distinguished by a collection of works by French Impressionists and PostImpressionists. These paintings were given by Donald D. Harrington and his wife, Sybil, who divide their residence between Phoenix and Amarillo, Texas. Because of the Harringtons' generosity, the art lover visiting the museum can see, among other works from the Impressionist periods, such famed masterpieces as Monet's "The Japanese Bridge With Water Lilies," Pissarro's "The Poplars," Corot's "Provincial Landscape," Vullard's "Woman At A Writing Desk," Boudin's "Brittany Village," Cassatt's "Boy With Spanish Hat," Renoir's "Bouquet of Roses." The Harrington bequest attests to the dynamic quality of the museum's permanent collection. The Sassoon Ivories and the Thorne Miniature Rooms are rare treasures.

THE SASSOON IVORIES, once the personal property of Sir Victor Sassoon, are a superb grouping of Chinese figures. They came to the museum during its second year of operation, as part of a traveling exhibition sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution of Washington, D.C. They are now on a permanent loan basis at the Phoenix Art Museum.

LUCE COLLECTION color plates/page 2

While for the past six years the main emphasis of the Phoenix Art Museum has probably been on art of France and an emphasis that was entirely justified and desirable, a new field is now being opened up in a most remarkable way and the Phoenix Art Museum may well become not only a center for the viewing and understanding of European art but also of the art of the Orient. The recent gift of Chinese ceramics from the collection of Dr. and Mrs. Matthew Wong of Yuma and notable additions from the earlier periods of Chinese art from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Luce will mean that scholars will now find another excellent reason for coming to Phoenix to admire and research in this special area of interest.

THE LUCE COLLECTION covers the Han and T'ang Dynasties in notable measure and by the time this latter collection is fully installed and researched, the museum will be able to show ceramics from all the major periods of Chinese Imperial history. Not only in the area of ceramics will the museum have works of great interest but bronzes, sculpture and jades will also be on exhibition.

WONG COLLECTION color plates/page 22

THE WONG COLLECTION consists of over one hundred examples of Chinese ceramics covering, most adequately, the Sung, Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, and in addition, some notable examples from the Yuan Dynasty. In the area of Ming and Ch'ing porcelains the most notable gifts have been blue and white porcelains of the transitional periods, these being not only scarce but much sought after. Amongst the collection of Sung ware are two fine bowls which, in the correct sense of the word, are unique.

THORNE MINIATURE ROOMS color plates/page 19

THE THORNE MINIATURE ROOMS, valued at $100,000, are the products of an amazing ingenuity and talent, Mrs. James Ward Thorne. Mrs. Thorne's hobby, dating back to the early 1920's, was that of collecting tiny ornaments, statuary, paintings, and items of interior furnishing. As time progressed, her passion for this type of amassing reached such proportion that she decided to re-create Lilliputian settings that would authentically represent periods of interior design. The work became a lifetime dedication. Mrs. Thorne's skilled hands carefully fashioned all the draperies, curtains, tapestries, and rugs. A craftsman who could whittle to a scale of roughly one inch to one foot was engaged to aid in the fascinating pursuit. Thirty chambers were completed for the Chicago Century of Progress (1933-1934). Sixty-five additional rooms came later; many were minute duplicates of famous rooms that figured prominently in European and American history. The entire collection, in 1942, went to the Chicago Art Institute. Some years later the original thirty rooms were sold to the International Business Machines Company. They toured extensively. Many of the toy-like apartments were eventually placed in storage due to excessive wear and tear. However, through the aid of Mrs. Thorne's son, a supporter of the museum, and the consent of the IBM Company, the gifted artist agreed to refurbish sixteen of the original rooms. They range in subject matter from an English Jacobean Hall to a Penthouse Dining Room of the Flapper Era. The rooms, completed in September of 1962, were installed as a permanent exhibit shortly thereafter. Each room is so perfect that one has the uncanny feeling that at any given moment very little people, scaled down to exact proportions, will enter.

PRIOR TO CLOSING ITS DOORS in the spring of 1965 to embark on its expanding building program, the museum had given approximately thirty one-man shows and over 400 Arizona artists had been able to display single paintings. By November, construction work was finished and the museum, tripled in size, once again welcomed visitors with all the warmth of personal acquaintance. Here it was, a marvelously amalgamated $1 million addition, financed by private donation and city bonds. The city and county continue to assist with the operating budget of the museum.

The lower area of the museum complex contains the Junior Museum, the Mexican and Latin American Room, and quarters for classes, symposiums, lectures, discussions, and intimate chamber music productions. By virtue of covered strollways and the bracing walls of the museum and the Public Library, an "inner court" is formed, beautifuly illuminated in the evening. The Phoenix Theatre Center and the Arizona Repertory Theatre stand, as part of the whole, at the northeast corner of the Civic Center Complex.

From a distance, the masonry pattern of some parts of the museum, the upper-level specifically, suggests the interlocking Greek key pattern. This Grecian whisper of tranquility and charm pervades the inner court, which also functions as a Sculpture Garden. The interior is generous in comfort, lighting is scientific, there is air conditioning and humidity control for the preservation of the art masterpieces.

The main floor consists of the Changing Exhibition Room and the Gallery of Contemporary Art. Here one is likely to encounter exhibitions devoted to Imperial Russian Art and the Contemporary Parisian scene as easily as commercial art displays. Here, too, are sections given over to Master and 20th Century Drawings and Far Eastern culture. A wall panel board acts as an electrified map and by studying it for a few moments, the museum visitor has no trouble in navigating to the particular gallery or room he wants to visit.

The upper story, which hosts a Members' Lounge, is devoted to paintings of American and Far Western Schools in the new wing and to Renaissance and Baroque and later periods of European Art in the old wing. One can witness a variety of periods, from Louis IV to Spanish Colonial, from the clutered aura of the Victorian to the functional design of a miner's home of the 1850's. One of the strongest attractions, as might be anticipated, is a gallery devoted to the art springing from the inspiration of the American West. But, as Dr. Hinkhouse is quick to point out, the works shown in this gallery are not simply western paintings and sculpture, but works of art that possess "museum quality."

"This has to be a general museum due to the fact that we serve the largest land mass of any museum in America so as a consequence we have become a general collection which will instruct the public and tell them about all aspects of Western and Far Eastern peoples, their cultures and civilization."

EVERYTHING CONSIDERED, IT WAS QUITE AN EDITORIAL:

"A somewhat cynical reader looked at page one of last Sunday's Arizona Republic and said: 'I guess no one got murdered last night.' For there, in big type at the top of the page, was the headline, Priceless Art for City. "As a matter of fact, the reader was right. There had been no murder in Phoenix the night before the headline appeared, but even if there had been, the managing editor probably would have given the top news play to a story about Lewis J. Ruskin's gift of twenty-four valuable paintings to the New Phoenix Art Museum.

"For Phoenix is growing up culturally, as well as physically and commercially. Ten years ago no Phoenix editor would have put a banner headline on a story about classical art. We might add that ten years ago no one would have given Phoenix a collection of art insured for $1.5 million. Nor could Phoenix have housed such a collection.

"Things are different now . . ." Ex concesso!