The National Gallery of Art’s latest exhibit, “Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection,” sounds like the title of an art history survey course. In contrast to a typical exhibit that showcases the work of a single artist or movement, the NGA’s undertaking sweeps through periods, artists and styles of French art from the 19th and 20th centuries.
What’s remarkable considering the scope and diversity of the exhibit is that the masterpieces all share the same thread: they were purchased and collected by the American couple Chester and Maud Dale. This exhibit features 83 of the more than 300 works donated to the NGA by the Dales, pulled from the Gallery’s permanent collection for the duration of the exhibit. Most of the works in this exhibit are both famous and familiar, making what’s compelling about this exhibit not what’s on display, but rather how it’s displayed.
Linking such a wide range of works — from Picasso’s blue period to Mary Cassat’s affectionate portraiture — highlights the eye of the beholder. We are made to see through the eyes of Maud and Chester Dale to discover what they found beautiful in the works by these artists they championed. Organizing an exhibit according to the sensibilities of such a famous art collecting couple makes the viewer of the art — typically a fleeting role we step into when we stand before a work — the actual subject of the exhibit.
Chester Dale was a businessman who made it big on Wall Street during the 1920s. A passionate man, he focused his energies on his incredible art collection. With his wife Maud, herself an artist with a keen eye for budding talent, Dale prodigiously collected 19th and 20th century French art, including some of the most iconic modern artworks. In the exhibit’s accompanying publication, photographs of the Dales’ New York apartment show the couple’s walls covered in modern art.
From Dale’s first acquisition, Matisse’s “Plumed Hat,” the couple came to play a crucial role in championing modern artists. Many of the artists they supported hadn’t yet achieved widespread contemporary acclaim. Matisse, for example, was still considered something of a revolutionary when the Dales first started collecting his work. Upon Dale’s death in 1962, he bequeathed his art collection to the NGA, completely transforming the Gallery’s French art collection.
Curator Kimberly Jones worked to achieve thematic unity in the exhibit’s presentation of the Dale couple’s prolific collection. Portraits of women dominate one wall and portraits of men another. Nearly an entire room is devoted to landscapes. Taking such iconic works out of their traditional context and arranging them thematically is truly powerful. It becomes clear how the artistic contemporaries interacted and how they responded to similar changes in society and their physical surroundings.
An art museum’s typical insistence on grouping works of one artist together gives the impression that the artists worked in isolation. In this exhibit, however, placement allows for new connections. Situating George Bellow’s “Blue Morning,” next to Monet’s “The Houses of Parliament, Sunset,” highlights the sensation of the artists’ experiments with light and color.
In total, 32 artists are represented in this exhibit, which is just a taste of the Gallery’s complete collection of Dale’s bequest. Seeing all these masterpieces side-by-side makes it hard to imagine the art world without the Chester Dale couple. The exhibit draws attention to the critical relationship between business and art, especially relevant amid today’s economic reality. Where would Matisse be, after all, if Dale had decided to collect automobiles instead?
This new exhibit lets us see works anew, through the eyes of a couple that truly loved art. The exhibit, “From Impressionism to Modernism: The Chester Dale Collection,” will be on display through July 31.
You can reach this staff writer at agoldstein@theeagleonline.com.
