It’s not quite The Car Guys, but an exchange at a recent symposium at the Frick’s Center for the History of Collecting* has tickled a couple of people I know, who mentioned it to me. It’s called Philippe de Montebello Interviews George Goldner and it’s about Golder’s career buying drawings at the Getty and, ahem, the Metropolitan Museum of Art.* (The two have an exchange about “The Met” and, later, “The Met-82nd St.” which may be inside baseball to some but not to others.)
There are a number of gems, including, in no particular order and very briefly:
- The difference between acquiring a painting and a drawing at the Met: trustees think they know something about paintings but most confess they know less about drawings. “So it’s easier to step off in a corner and do what you want,” Goldner said. “You can overwhelm them with fear of their own ignorance.”
- And another difference: some trustees do not understand why they should buy drawings by some artist whose name they do not recognize. “But a great drawings collection should have great things and others that illuminate the great things” and more. Goldner says a museum should want a mix.
- Personal taste shouldn’t rule. Goldner says he bought German baroque drawings even though he didn’t like them. And he doesn’t think Courbet, for one, can draw, but he still bought a piece of his. “I’ve never looked at it since we bought it, and if someone gave it to me I wouldn’t hang it,” he said.
- He  bought about 8,000 drawings for the Met. Over his 35-year career, “I’ve never gone more than a month without finding a drawing I wanted to buy.”
- There’s no real dearth of great works out there–what there is is a decline in interest in buying drawings.
And can you guess his answers:
- What is “the plague …that has overwhelmed art museums?” (About 21 minutes in…)
- Whether he made mistakes in his purchases? (Yes, but what?)
- What he most regrets not buying–and more important why?
*I consult to a foundation that supports the Met and the Frick