Maxim Karolik was an opera singer by profession who was notable as an art collector and donor

Donation

A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles...

. Although generally unsuccessful as a singer, he married into one of Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

's wealthiest families. On February 2, 1928, he married Martha Catharine Codman (1858–1948). He made a hobby of collecting early American antiques and art

American Art

American Art is the debut album of the band Weatherbox. It was released on May 8, 2007 on Doghouse Records. The album received critical acclaim from several sources including underground music distribution company Smartpunk, who lauded the band's style:...

. Karolik was guided in his purchases by the Museum of Fine Arts

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...

, Boston, to which he later donated his collection. He was largely responsible for spurring interest in early 19th-century American art. In addition, Karolik purchased, for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, one well-known American textile, the Pictorial Quilt 1898 stitched by Harriet Powers

Harriet Powers

Harriet Powers was an African American slave, folk artist and quilt maker from rural Georgia. She used traditional appliqué techniques to record local legends, Bible stories, and astronomical events on her quilts...

 (MFA accession no. 64.619).

Karolik recorded Russian Art Songs, thirty songs collected in a three-album set from Unicorn Records in Boston. A 48-page book that came with the album set included an introductory essay by Nicholas Slonimsky titled "Russian Music in Art Songs."

Further reading

• Staff writer. "Boston's Golden Maxim". Time
  Time (magazine)
  Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
  
  , December 22, 1941.
• Staff writer. "Definitely American". Time, October 15, 1951.
• Maxim Karolik, 1893-1963. Boston Museum of Fine Arts (1964).
• "Maxim's Mission". Time December 28, 1962.
• Troyen, Carol. "The Incomparable Max: Maxim Karolik and the Taste for American Art". American Art, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Summer, 1993), pp. 64–87.
• Troyen, Carol. "Maxim Karolik folk art". Antiques, April 2001.