CONTEMPORARIES
LITERARY GIANT
THE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM MARKS ITS CENTENNIAL.
Clockwise from left: J. Pierpont Morgan Library East Room. Photograph by Graham Haber; The Morgan Garden, evening view looking north. Courtesy of the Morgan Library & Museum, New York. © Brett Beyer, 2022; George Sand (1804–1876), Les dames vertes, autograph manuscript, ca. 1858, later bound in goldtooled green Morocco leather by Riviere & Son. The Morgan Library & Museum, purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan, 1896.
INTERVIEW BY CHRIS BYRNE
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hrough May 4, a major exhibition dedicated to the life and career of the Morgan Library & Museum’s first librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, is on view, marking the public institution’s centenary. Here, Chris Byrne visits with director Colin B. Bailey, who was the senior curator at the Kimbell Art Museum in the ’90s, on the enduring success of the Morgan and its extraordinary holdings. Chris Byrne (CB): Congratulations on the Morgan’s 100th anniversary—what can we look forward to this year? Colin B. Bailey (CBB): Visitors this year can expect a series of exceptional exhibitions and expanded-access programs, among other celebrations. Exhibitions this year include a two-gallery exhibition on the life of Beatrix Potter, an installation on artist Walton Ford, and perhaps most notably, an exhibition celebrating the life and contributions of our first librarian and director, Belle da Costa Greene. The Morgan will also hold a free public day of celebration on Sunday, May 5, 2024, for all visitors, and is now offering free 64
PATRONMAGAZINE.COM
admission to all college students on the first Sunday of every month. CB: This past year I viewed several noteworthy postwar exhibitions at the Morgan, including Georg Baselitz: Six Decades of Drawings, Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio, and Entrance to the Mind: Drawings by George Condo... CBB: From late 2022 to 2023, the Morgan held four exhibitions dedicated to the work of living artists. Three of these exhibitions featured drawings from artists working in the postwar era, though each of these artists has vastly different origins, as well as highly unique responses to their time. These exhibitions include Georg Baselitz: Six Decades of Drawings, celebrating a gift from the artist to the Morgan of fifty drawings, organized in collaboration with the Albertina Museum in Vienna, as well Entrance to the Mind: Drawings by George Condo, celebrating the Morgan’s acquisition of twentyeight of the artist’s drawings. The Morgan also notably organized the exhibition Bridget Riley Drawings: From the Artist’s Studio, the first exhibition devoted to the artist’s drawings in over twenty years. CB: In 2021, the museum acquired twenty-eight drawings by Condo, spanning the artist’s entire career...