In 1965, two émigrés from Communist Czechoslovakia arrived in New York with all of their possessions packed into a pair of suitcases. Within a few months, the young woman began working for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she remained for 32 years, ultimately as the Associate Curator in the Accessions and Catalogue Department.
This is the backstory to the Vilcek Foundation, which was established in 2000 by the two émigrés from Czechoslovakia, Jan and Marica Vilcek, to raise public awareness of the cultural contributions by immigrants in the arts and sciences in the United States.
Jan and Marica Vilcek at The Vilcek Foundation (Source: © The Vilcek Foundation)
Housed on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, the Vilcek Foundation honors and supports foreign-born scientists and artists who have made outstanding contributions to society in the United States. Recipients of the Vilcek Prize have included artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov, filmmaker Mike Nichols, chef José Andrés, poet Charles Simic, and numerous other illustrious immigrant artists.
Reflecting the Vilceks’ love for American art, the Vilcek Foundation‘s American Modernist Collection is a testament to the vision of immigrant artists during the Modernist period, from the late 19th century to approximately 1970. Rarely seen in public, the stunning collection comprises paintings, works on paper, and sculptures from artists such as Stuart Davis, Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keefe, John Storrs, and Max Weber, among others.
Detail of “Untitled (Still Life with Artist’s Portfolio and Bowl of Fruit),” Andrew Dasburg, c. 1914-1918
(Source: © The Vilcek Foundation)
Recently released by Merrell Publishers, Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection is a lavishly-illustrated catalogue of the Vilceks’ American Modernist Collection. Art historian Lewis Kachur (Displaying the Marvelous: Marcel Duchamp, Salvador Dali, and Surrealist Exhibition Installations, 2003) examines nearly 100 works by 20 leading artists of the second half of the 20th century.
Complemented by concise artists’ biographies and an illustrated timeline, Kachur’s entries on each work lend insight into the breadth of American Modernism. Although Modernist artists worked across a broad spectrum of styles, many Modernists were linked together aesthetically for their desire to move beyond representational art in their quest to interpret the changes within modern society.
“Abstraction,” Georgia O’Keeffe, c. 1980 (modeled 1945) (Source: © The Vilcek Foundation)
Artists such as Stuart Davis and Joseph Stella often addressed the correlations between consumerism and urbanism in conjunction with the advances in industrial technology. Other Modernists, such as Georgia O’Keeffe and Arthur Dove, sought and found inspiration in nature, particularly in the Native American culture of the Southwest. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection also includes a timeline that examines the connections between New York and New Mexico.
An incisive introduction by William C. Agee traces the evolution of American Modernism and the development of Cubism and Synchromism. Agee, who specializes in modern American art from 1900-1970, has published widely on Modernism and is currently a professor of art history at Hunter College. The 288-page, hardcover book weighs in at nearly five pounds and is prefaced by a collector’s statement from Vilcek Foundation founders’ Jan and Marica Vilcek.
“Music Hall,” Stuart Davis, 1930 (Source: © The Vilcek Foundation)
Currently, the Vilcek Foundation owns two works by Davis, with the rest of the American Modernist Collection as a promised gift to the Foundation. In the interim, Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection provides an insider’s perspective – and a substantiated argument for the role of the immigrant artist – on one of the major aesthetic movements within American art.
