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Nelson A. Rockefeller

Virginia-Lee Webb Ph.D.

Few individuals can live life to the fullest with various professions and accomplishments. Nelson A. Rockefeller achieved numerous political and cultural goals that remain important to this day. As a collector of the arts of Oceania, he gave prominence to and promoted the appreciation of these art forms. He was born on July 8, 1908, in Bar Harbor, Maine, into a family of great wealth founded by its patriarch, John D. Rockefeller Sr. Nelson’s mother was Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who married John D. Rockefeller Jr. While most of the family members were well-known names in business and banking, their interests in education and arts were also recipients of their philanthropy.

Nelson A. Rockefeller at the exhibition of Asmat art in September 1962 collected by his son Michael C. Rockefeller in 1961. It was displayed in a specially built pavilion in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art. Photo credit, UPI 9/10/62 HGR Nelson’s mother, Abby, was a great admirer and collector of modern art. Nelson credited her providing his early exposure and appreciation of modern and African arts¹. He wrote, “My mother was one of this small group of collectors … Fortunately for me, she had a small art gallery of her own in our house on 54th Street in New York City. I still treasure the various pieces of African sculpture she had there along with the modern art …”²
At the age of twenty-two, Nelson embarked on a round-the-world trip, visiting Hawaii. It was there that he purchased his first object from the Pacific, a Hawaiian bowl which he kept throughout his life. Traveling to Bali, Sumatra,³ Angkor Wat, Borobudur, and numerous historical sites in the Middle East. Then in 1933, he visited South America where he spent three months. It was there where he learned a great deal about the arts as he visited the archaeological sites of the great civilizations and met artists Miguel and Rosa Covarrubias and Diego Rivera.⁴ It is after his visit to the Americas that he began collecting art from that area. Not only did his collecting begin in earnest during these trips, his connections to museums and philanthropic activities increased. His mother Abby was one of the founders of the Museum of Modern Art in 1929. That museum had begun to explore non-western art in several exhibitions. In 1933 they presented “American Sources of Modern Art,” which compared aspects of Pre-Columbian art to modern arts. That series continued with an exhibit in 1935 “African Negro Art.”⁵ Nelson soon became more involved there, and in 1939, he was elected president. In 1940, he organized “Twenty Centuries of Mexican Art.” In 1946 “Arts of the South Seas” opened. It was organized by René d’Harnoncourt who would become a lifelong friend and advisor to Nelson. Arts of the South Seas was a landmark exhibition. It presented a survey of art styes from most of the cultures of the Pacific. With its radically different original installation designed by d’Harnoncourt, it remains a historically significant and innovative exhibition.⁶
It was through Nelson’s interest in the arts and his friendship with René d’Harnoncourt that led the way for more groundbreaking developments. Soon after the Arts of the South Seas exhibition, Rockefeller appointed René director of the Museum of Modern Art in 1949, a post he held until his death in 1968. By the mid-twentieth century, Rockefeller’s collection of non-western art had grown, and he decided it was time to start a museum to exhibit it. Thus, with d’Harnoncourt’s help he established the Museum of Primitive Art⁷ in New York. On January 24, 1955, a townhouse at 15 West 54th Street, New York was contributed by Nelson Rockefeller to house the museum. An adjacent building also owned by Rockefeller at 13 West 54th Street was also used for administrative offices.⁸ In these two buildings on West 54th street, the Museum opened in February of 1957 with the art historian and accomplished scholar Robert Goldwater as its first director.

Left to right-- Robert Goldwater, Thomas Hoving, Douglas Newton, Nelson A. Rockefeller. Photo by Michael Fredericks. It became extremely successful with many of its exhibitions showing art that had never been fully presented in the United States. However, even though the entire building was used for exhibitions, often three at a time, there wasn’t enough space to show the entire collection at any one time. Rockefeller was interested in donating his collection to a museum, and he and René were interested in exploring that option with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, but at the time The Met did not show any interest. “In the late sixties, René came up with the idea … to put on a major exhibit of the entire collection of the Museum of Primitive Art … and perhaps change their attitude. The Metropolitan Museum agreed, and in 1969 the show was presented.”⁹ As well, a friend and trustee of the Metropolitan, Mrs. Brooke Astor, agreed that the collection should remain at The Met. She said if Rockefeller would donate his collection, she would contribute to the separate building. Within two days an agreement was signed.¹⁰ On May 10, 1969, the exhibition “Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from the Museum of Primitive Art” opened to the public at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. With over 1000 objects displayed, it was the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian art ever held in the United States up to this time.¹¹ In the catalog’s Foreword by Thomas Hoving, then director of The Metropolitan Museum, he wrote, “The exhibition of works of art gathered together for the Museum of Primitive Art by Nelson A. Rockefeller, a collector of high perception, rare sensitivity, and great enthusiasm, is an extraordinarily important event for The Metropolitan. It marks the first time in the 99-year history of The Metropolitan that works of art from these civilizations have ever been shown in a major exhibition.”¹²

Installation view of exhibition Art of Oceania, Africa, and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art 1969 In the interim years, several tragic events occurred, and the initial founders did not see their plans reach fruition. D’Harnoncourt never saw that exhibition and final transfer of the collection as he was killed by a car in 1969 while walking on a road in Long Island. Rockefeller did remain a major contributor to the Museum of Primitive Art until it closed its doors to the public on January 1, 1975, while they prepared for the move to The Met. Both the Museum of Primitive Art’s collections and Rockefeller’s collections on loan at the time were the core collections of the new wing. However, in 1979, Rockefeller passed away and also never saw the collection installed at The Met in the new building. The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing is named after his son who was lost during an expedition to Asmat. The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing opened to the public on January 18, 1982. Since the opening of the Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, it has continued Nelson’s legacy and has been a primary venue for presenting extraordinary exhibitions of the traditional arts from the cultures of the world it represents. Over time the Wing’s galleries have seen several major renovations including changes in themed galleries where collections grew from significant bequests. In 2006, the Pacific section of the Rockefeller Wing was reinstalled with the arts of the Asmat and the Kwoma ceiling again prominently featured. Currently the entire wing is under renovation and will open in early 2025. Surely it will be a significant continuing legacy of the vison of Nelson A. Rockefeller and his love for the arts of Oceania.

¹ Nelson A. Rockefeller “Introduction.” In Douglas Newton’s Masterpieces of Primitive Art. The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1978: 19.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rockefeller-family

² Rockefeller 1978: 19.

³ Ibid 1978: 22 for photos of the first objects he collected.

⁴ Ibid 1978: 19–20.

⁵ See Virginia-Lee Webb. “Modern Times. Early Tribal exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.” Tribal Arts, Spring 1995: 30–40.

⁶ Webb 1995.

⁷ In order to move away from the word Primitive, the museum was chartered as the Museum of Indigenous Art. But the public often confused the name with the word indigent so it was renamed.

⁸ Archive of the Museum of Primitive Art (AR.1999.18.12).

⁹ Rockefeller 1978: 24.

¹⁰ Ibid 1978: 24–25.

¹¹ The Archive of the Museum of Primitive Art, record AR.1999.23. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Thanks to Paige Silva, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

¹² Robert Goldwater, Douglas Newton, Julie Jones, Tamara Northern. Arts of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art. New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 10–August 17, 1969: Foreword.