Letter From The Director
Dear Members,
Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Museum since 1994, is the author of this tri-annual letter.
In addition, he is featured weekly on WYPR radio's Postcards From The Walters podcast.
He also writes a blog, called Culture Comment, published by the Baltimore Sun.
What makes a collector? Some among you are collectors, and I'm sure you have your own individual motivations. William T. Walters collected for two reasons: first, because he believed that to be in the presence of art enriched and ennobled the human spirit, and second, because he was convinced that it was his responsibility to enrich his community's spiritual life as well as his own. His first museum was his own home, which he generously made available from time to time to the people of Baltimore.
William T. Walters' son, Henry, certainly shared his father's devotion to making his art available to the community; the wording of his hand-written will makes that clear when it instructs that his art be given to Baltimore "for the benefit of the public." But Henry's collecting style was different from that of his father. While William T. Walters purchased individual works with exacting care, and re-arranged and culled his collection annually, his son acquired the pre-assembled collections of others—in one case, more than 1,700 works in a single transaction. Henry "amassed" more than "collected" art, and he never, as he eventually grew to regret, reassessed his holdings in the way that his father had. But above all, the son's collecting of art was an act in honor of his father, after whom the gallery he built and opened in 1909 was named. Together, the achievement of Walters father and son remains unsurpassed in the history of American art philanthropy.
Great collectors attract other collectors, and over the years, that is how the Walters' galleries have been enriched for our public. Most recently, in the summer of 2008, we welcomed the south Arabian collection of Carolyn and Giraud Foster in Faces of Ancient Arabia. This winter and spring, we celebrate another local collector, Stephen W. Fisher, in Japanese Cloisonné Enamels (February 14–June 13). Steve Fisher has a decades-long collecting passion for enamelwork at its technical and aesthetic peak, as achieved by the Japanese about a century ago. He is the kind of collector who lives with his art, and who is continually enriched and energized as he culls and upgrades his collection. In this respect, he is much like the collector I imagine William T. Walters to have been. Like the elder Walters, Steve loves to share the art in his collection with the people he welcomes into his life. Some among you may have had the privilege, as I have had on several occasions, of exploring the magic of Japanese cloisonné enamelwork with Steve, in his home, and through his magnificent collection. I recall the hushed silence as these precious works gently passed from hand to hand, as Steve recounted the stories of the leading creative figures that helped to shape and direct this extraordinary chapter in the long history of enamelwork. It is truly a case of art bringing history to life in a most beautiful and elegant fashion.
I have had this special experience, which makes me especially pleased that all Walters visitors will soon have that same privilege—save, of course, for the passing of the works from hand to hand. Steve, thank you for sharing your collection, and your knowledge, with our community and the world, through this exhibition and through its stunningly beautiful catalogue so generously supported by your friends Tsognie and Doug Hamilton. I know that William T. and Henry Walters would have loved to be here to enjoy it with us.
Cordially,
Gary Vikan
Director