Label Text:
Dow’s photograph captures the opulent library that financier and cultural benefactor John Pierpont Morgan (1837–1913) built to house his collection of manuscripts and rare books. Morgan also adorned his private study with valuable paintings and sculptures. His voracious appetite for collecting was typical of newly rich American businessmen of the late nineteenth century. This period of great industrial progress and economic prosperity—and disparity—was nicknamed The Gilded Age for its ostentatious displays of wealth. In 1924, Morgan’s son, J.P. “Jack” Morgan, Jr. (1867–1943), opened the library to the public, fulfilling his father’s desire that its contents be “permanently available for the instruction and pleasure of the American people.”
Dow’s image belongs to an extensive series of photographs of interiors of esteemed New York buildings and institutions. His commitment to documentary photography flows partly from his experience working with Depression-era photographer Walker Evans (1903–1975).
MD, 2011
Tags:
historic sites; rooms; decoration and ornament; furniture Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2010.133 |
