William B. T. Trego (1828-1909), Battery, Forward! (also known as Bringing Up the Battery, Artillery to the Front, Civil War Battle Scene), 1887, oil on canvas, H. 19.25 x W. 29.5 inches, James A. Michener Art Museum. Museum purchase funded by Anne and Joseph Gardocki.

The practice of museum directors spending their time in galleries and artists studios with fat institutional checkbooks to purchase artwork has long ago vanished. While there may be a small handful of very select institutions (The Crystal Bridges Museum is one example) with substantial acquisition funds, the current atmosphere is in sharp contrast to the early part of the twentieth century when directors from both large and small art museums would spend much of their time buying art.

Although a rare opportunity, I have always found the experience one of the most rewarding and interesting parts of my job at the Michener Art Museum. One of my earliest introductions to the pleasure of playing collector with institutional funds occurred in 1994 when the morning mail included a letter dated February 25, 1994 from a respectable gallery of American Art located in Connecticut. The gallery was given my name by a close friend, Peter Blume, who was at the time Director of the Allentown Art Museum. The gallery was offering a history painting by William T. Trego (shown above). Peter had been offered the painting which was not right for Allentown but he thought we might like the work. At the time I knew very little about Trego’s work but I found the picture of great interest. Read More »