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Art Collecting--5

these Spanish masters to America.
Between 1895 and 1913, most of the great collections of the art of the past were formed. J. Pierpont Morgan is a typical example of the wide, ecelctic taste of these collectors. Egyptian art, Oriental porcelains, Renaissance medieval and Renaissance tapestries, crystals,/ Italian bronzes, illuminated manuscripts, drawings, paintings--in vast quantity and splendid quality all these were gathered by the dynamic, forceful Morgan. Henry Clay Frick, John G. Johnson, Benjamin Altman, P.A.B. Widener, Henry Walters and dozens of others were bringing art of highest quality to America at an astounding rate.
By 1911, American collectors received a rare compliment. Wilhelm von Bode had been the energetic and knowing scout for the Kaiser, ransacking Europe, trying to build a great museum in Berlin and competing with the Americans. In 1893, when Bode visited America, he made snide and rather nasty remarks about the quality of American collections. When he came here in 1911, he had to admit the ¨artistic results were very fine.¨ And, indeed, they were. Other wonderful objects continued to come to America after 1913--and a few still find their way to these shores--but the extraordinary fact is that American taste and American collecting did progress from the tenth rate to the very best in a remarkably short time.
The second unique aspect of American art collecting is the relationship of private to public collections.
In Europe, the origins of museum treasures reach back to the collecting of the pharaohs and their growth is due largely to the mighty patrons and collectors of the Church and State. Museums in America began only in the 1870s. They often grew out of small art associations or small bands of men and women who believed America needed such centers. Once begotten, they grew, mushroom-like, over the whole country. By 1911

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