James Johnson Sweeney
Encyclopedia
James Johnson Sweeney was a curator, and writer about modern art. From 1935 to 1946, he was curator for the Museum of Modern Art
. He was the second director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
, from 1952 to 1960. During his tenure, he expanded the scope of the collection to include abstract expressionist
painting as well as sculpture, established the long term loans program in 1953, and the Guggenheim International Awards in 1956. He was also involved in the final years of the construction of the Frank Lloyd Wright
designed museum building during which time he had an antagonistic relationship with the architect.
Sweeney collected works by:
In the late 1960s, Sweeney was a consultant to the National Gallery of Australia
during its establishment to advise on issues concerning the display and storage of art. Subsequently, it also acquired paintings by Pollock and de Kooning. The then Australia
n Prime minister
, John Gorton
apparently favoured him as the Gallery's first director, despite his age. He also had significant input into its brutalist design. According to the Gallery's first Director, James Mollison
, "the size and form of the building had been determined between Colin Madigan and J.J. Sweeney, and the National Capital Development Commission
. I was not able to alter the appearance of the interior or exterior in any way...It's a very difficult building in which to make art look more important than the space in which you put the art".
Born in Brooklyn in 1900 to an Irish-American textile-importing family, Sweeney maintained close ties to Europe throughout his life, residing in Ireland and Paris during intermittent periods. He earned his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1922, and for two years thereafter, he did graduate work in literature at Jesus College, Cambridge University. He then studied for one year each at the Sorbonne and the University of Sienna.
James Johnson Sweeney was Director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art from January 25, 1945 to September 30, 1946. Prior to that, he was a member of the Museum's Acquisition and Advisory Committees. In 1935, he organized African Negro Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, borrowed from collectors in the United States and Europe. A number of European artists lent works to the exhibition from their collections including Henri Matisse, Louis Marcoussis, Tristan Tzara, Jacques Lipchitz, Andre Derain and Andre Lhote. Under a grant from the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, Walker Evans photographed each individual piece in the exhibition, creating an invaluable record of the works. Six sets of photographs were distributed to black colleges and one set was given to the New York Public Library.
In 1952, he became Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum where he served until 1960.
In 1961, he became Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston where he served for six years and that acted as a Consulting Director. Sweeney’s tenure at the MFAH was characterized by flamboyance and notoriety. As a condition of his employment, a Director’s Acquisition fund was established with which he acquired significant works of contemporary art. He terminated the annual regional exhibitions in an effort to raise the international profile of the MFAH. Known for his innovative installation techniques—he used rods to project paintings from the wall at the Guggenheim—Sweeney utilized the new Cullinan Hall to its best advantage by suspending canvases on wires from the ceiling. During his tenure as Director, he collected heavily in the art of the Americas, adding hundreds of North American and MesoAmerican pieces to the museum’s collection, and even enlisted Brown & Root to construct a road into the Mexican rainforests so that a sixteen-ton Olmec Head could be displayed on the lawn of the MFAH before finding a permanent home at the new Mexican National Museum of Anthropology.
During Sweeney’s tenure as director, Ima Hogg’s personal residence at Bayou Bend was transformed into the MFAH’s house museum for American decorative arts, and he persuaded his longtime friend, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, to create detailed drawings for the planned second phase of additions to the museum that became the Brown Pavilion. He also served as a member of the President’s National Arts Council, and as a member of the Arts Council of Ireland.
In the year following his departure from the MFAH, Sweeney continued to work as a consultant to supervise the architectural planning process for the museum. During the 1970s he acted as interim Director of the National Gallery in Canberra, he chaired the executive committee of the Israel Museum, he became President of the International Association of Art Critics, and he served as an advisory editor for Partisan Review. He also continued a lifelong career in art criticism, completing a book on Chillida shortly before his death in 1986.
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
. He was the second director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...
, from 1952 to 1960. During his tenure, he expanded the scope of the collection to include abstract expressionist
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...
painting as well as sculpture, established the long term loans program in 1953, and the Guggenheim International Awards in 1956. He was also involved in the final years of the construction of the Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
designed museum building during which time he had an antagonistic relationship with the architect.
Sweeney collected works by:
- Constantin BrâncuşiConstantin BrancusiConstantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
- Alexander ArchipenkoAlexander ArchipenkoAlexander Porfyrovych Archipenko was a Ukrainian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist.-Biography:...
- Alexander CalderAlexander CalderAlexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
- Alberto GiacomettiAlberto GiacomettiAlberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
- David Hayes (sculptor)David Hayes (sculptor)-Life:David Hayes received an A.B. degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1953, and a M.F.A. degree from Indiana University in 1955 where he studied with David Smith....
- Willem de KooningWillem de KooningWillem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
- Jackson PollockJackson PollockPaul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
In the late 1960s, Sweeney was a consultant to the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
during its establishment to advise on issues concerning the display and storage of art. Subsequently, it also acquired paintings by Pollock and de Kooning. The then Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
, John Gorton
John Gorton
Sir John Grey Gorton, GCMG, AC, CH , Australian politician, was the 19th Prime Minister of Australia.-Early life:...
apparently favoured him as the Gallery's first director, despite his age. He also had significant input into its brutalist design. According to the Gallery's first Director, James Mollison
James Mollison
James Mollison, AO, was Acting Director of the National Gallery of Australia from 1971 to 1977 and Director from 1977 – 1990. He was Director of the National Gallery of Victoria from 1989 to 1995....
, "the size and form of the building had been determined between Colin Madigan and J.J. Sweeney, and the National Capital Development Commission
National Capital Development Commission
The National Capital Development Commission was an Australian Commonwealth Government body created to complete the establishment of Canberra as the seat of government. It was created in 1957 through the National Capital Development Commission Act 1957.Under the control of the NCDC Canberra grew...
. I was not able to alter the appearance of the interior or exterior in any way...It's a very difficult building in which to make art look more important than the space in which you put the art".
Born in Brooklyn in 1900 to an Irish-American textile-importing family, Sweeney maintained close ties to Europe throughout his life, residing in Ireland and Paris during intermittent periods. He earned his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University in 1922, and for two years thereafter, he did graduate work in literature at Jesus College, Cambridge University. He then studied for one year each at the Sorbonne and the University of Sienna.
James Johnson Sweeney was Director of the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art from January 25, 1945 to September 30, 1946. Prior to that, he was a member of the Museum's Acquisition and Advisory Committees. In 1935, he organized African Negro Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, borrowed from collectors in the United States and Europe. A number of European artists lent works to the exhibition from their collections including Henri Matisse, Louis Marcoussis, Tristan Tzara, Jacques Lipchitz, Andre Derain and Andre Lhote. Under a grant from the General Education Board of the Rockefeller Foundation, Walker Evans photographed each individual piece in the exhibition, creating an invaluable record of the works. Six sets of photographs were distributed to black colleges and one set was given to the New York Public Library.
In 1952, he became Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum where he served until 1960.
In 1961, he became Director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston where he served for six years and that acted as a Consulting Director. Sweeney’s tenure at the MFAH was characterized by flamboyance and notoriety. As a condition of his employment, a Director’s Acquisition fund was established with which he acquired significant works of contemporary art. He terminated the annual regional exhibitions in an effort to raise the international profile of the MFAH. Known for his innovative installation techniques—he used rods to project paintings from the wall at the Guggenheim—Sweeney utilized the new Cullinan Hall to its best advantage by suspending canvases on wires from the ceiling. During his tenure as Director, he collected heavily in the art of the Americas, adding hundreds of North American and MesoAmerican pieces to the museum’s collection, and even enlisted Brown & Root to construct a road into the Mexican rainforests so that a sixteen-ton Olmec Head could be displayed on the lawn of the MFAH before finding a permanent home at the new Mexican National Museum of Anthropology.
During Sweeney’s tenure as director, Ima Hogg’s personal residence at Bayou Bend was transformed into the MFAH’s house museum for American decorative arts, and he persuaded his longtime friend, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, to create detailed drawings for the planned second phase of additions to the museum that became the Brown Pavilion. He also served as a member of the President’s National Arts Council, and as a member of the Arts Council of Ireland.
In the year following his departure from the MFAH, Sweeney continued to work as a consultant to supervise the architectural planning process for the museum. During the 1970s he acted as interim Director of the National Gallery in Canberra, he chaired the executive committee of the Israel Museum, he became President of the International Association of Art Critics, and he served as an advisory editor for Partisan Review. He also continued a lifelong career in art criticism, completing a book on Chillida shortly before his death in 1986.