Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

by Calvin Tomkins

Unlike the treasures of European museums, accumulated during centuries of royal patronage and plunder, the Metropolitan's vast collection reflects the tastes and resources of only a handful of remarkable nineteenth- and twentieth-century individuals, including J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and Philip and Robert Lehman, who developed, along with their millions, a taste for immortality through art. Blending anecdote with lively social history, Calvin Tomkins reveals the ideas, personalities, and financial power behind the Metropolitan's dramatic climb to greatness. His story is nothing less than the story of art in America.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, History, Art History

415 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1989

About the author

Calvin Tomkins has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1960. He wrote his first fiction piece for the magazine in 1958, and his first fact piece in 1962. His many Profile subjects have included Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Philip Johnson, Julia Child, Georgia O’Keeffe, Leo Castelli, Frank Stella, Carmel Snow, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Frank Gehry, Damien Hirst, Richard Serra, Matthew Barney, and Jasper Johns. He wrote the Art World column from 1980 to 1988. Before joining The New Yorker, he was a general editor of Newsweek, a post he held from 1957 through 1959. In 1955, he joined Newsweek as an associate editor. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including “The Bride and the Bachelors,” “Merchants and Masterpieces,” “Living Well Is the Best Revenge,” “Off the Wall,” “Duchamp: A Biography,” and “Lives of the Artists.” A revised edition of his Duchamp biography came out in 2014.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had been reading this book diligently over lunches for some time, when one day I misplaced it and started something else. I opened it back up the other day and tried reading it, but just couldn't. It's interesting as a bland survey of the massive history of the Met and all its wealthy benefactors and so forth, but it is also really easy to lose interest. I would only recommend it to those who really want to learn about the long, sometimes fascinating and sometimes really boring, details. behind this institution.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome book! I wish I would have read this book before I went to the Met several years ago.

Lots of information about important acquistions, the founding of the museum and its leaders over the years.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this by mistake when I meant to get a book on a different museum...

[Lucky · Rating 4 out of 5]

19世纪后半叶的美国沉浸在工业浪潮所带来的巨大财富中，随处可见金钱的挥霍、政治的腐败、道德与社会的失序，纽约更是这一切的中心。如此背景之下，有一群渴望与文化融合的新贵名流相信，艺术知识的传播可以教化人性，提升人们的道德并使其变得更加高雅，大都会博物馆的门便因此开启。在它的百年历史中（这本书初版于上世纪80年代），写满了那些重要的金融业、商业巨头的名字，他们或是大都会博物馆的董事会成员，或是曾将金钱和收藏慷慨相赠。现在的大都会已是西方世界最大、最富有的博物馆之一，馆藏包罗万象，很难想象这种基调是由J.P.摩根这样的大银行家奠定的，馆内引以为傲的埃及藏品，也有很大一部分来自摩根当时所开展的埃及考古活动。同时，受到那些董事、捐赠者的喜好和宗教观念的影响，大都会博物馆对于古典艺术的热爱也是显而易见的，而他们对那个时期的当代艺术与美国本土艺术的拒绝，直接导致了纽约现代艺术博物馆和惠特尼博物馆的成立。保守派与改革者，无论在哪个领域都不会有任一方缺席。

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to a contemporary update... what a sizzler that would be!

[Anastasia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was amazing! It is possibly the best non-fiction I have ever read and overall the best book this year. As if I went through the Metropolitan through the back door and met all the eccentric characters who were involved in running it. The whole era of the New York life in the first half of XX century came to life. Indescribably enjoyable book!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm currently reading this for my docent training at the Met, it is wonderful. Gives a sense not only of the Museum's beginning but of NYC's beginning as well.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than any other book I've read this year. Tomkins provides an overview of the museum's first century: trustees, acquisitions, curators and all.

[Pat McDermott · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished through chapter 13