By: Olivia Ho
Once, while John Wilmerding was at Harvard, he stepped into the basement of the campus’s art museum to attend “Darkness at Noon”, an introductory art history class. This introductory class changed his life, and sparked an interest in something new: American Art. American art would be his passion all the way to the day he died on June 6th, 2024.
Wen describing the class, Mr. Wilmerding explained, “When the lights went out, there was this world of visual images that struck a nerve with me instantly…suddenly a whole culture came to life.”
Before John Wilmerding started to promote American art, American art wasn’t highly valued as much as European art but that wasn’t how John Wilmerding saw it. Mr. Wilmerding liked the style of the art and especially the ones with an ocean as it reminded him of his father. As a result, he changed his major to study art history.
The first painting Wilmerding bought was the “Stage rocks and Western Shore of Gloucester Outer Harbor”. Mr. Wilmerding didn’t stop collecting art even after he got his master’s degree in 1961 and then a doctorate in 1965. During these five years, and when he started his career as a teacher at Dartmouth college, he still didn’t stop collecting art. However, it seems collecting was in his blood.
John Wilmerding’s great-grandparents donated their collection of European and Asian art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His grandmother even founded the Shelburne Museum. Despite this history, Wilmerding’s parents were not overly enthusiastic about art. Wilmerding once jokingly said, “…with all of my family’s collecting history…I never was taken to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
Mr. Wilmerding was the deputy director of the National Gallery of Art from 1983 to 1988 and decided to donate his large growing collection of art from the 19th and 20th century.
This massive donation greatly expanded the reputation of American art but
Mr. Wilmerding didn’t stop just yet. He also wrote more than 20 published books that also furthermore promoted American art.
Sadly, John Wilmerding died on June 6th, 2024, but his impact on American art is stronger than ever from writing more than 20 books about American art to teaching it for many years.