Morton D. May
Encyclopedia
Morton D. May (known as Buster to his friends and colleagues) was an American philanthropist
and art collector. He was also at various times director, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of the May Department Stores
Company.
, during a gold strike in 1877. He soon came to the conclusion that there was no future there, and moved his business across the nation a few times finally setting in 1893 in St. Louis, Missouri
. He opened a store called Famous Clothing. Later he bought out the William Barr Dry Goods Co.
, and Famous-Barr
was created. Morton J. May, David May's son took over the family enterprise, and ran it successfully for many years during Morton D. May's childhood.
Morton D. May lived a life of privilege, attending St. Louis's Country Day school, and then Dartmouth College
.
in the early 1940s but was interrupted by World War II
. When the war was over he traveled to galleries in New York and began investigating the paintings of American artists and Cubists
, but soon his interests drifted elsewhere. He was well known for not being a fashionable collector.
When his contemporaries were buying School of Paris
pictures, May was buying tough German Expressionist
pictures that turned out to be masterpieces.
In general May focused his collection in three areas, German Expressionism, Mesoamerica
, and the indigenous arts of various cultures around the globe, including primarily art from Oceania
, Africa
, and other Pre-Columbian art that was not specifically from Mesoamerica. In these areas his goal was comprehensiveness. Because he bought so extensively, he sometimes made mistakes, which he famously laughed off, making no effort to conceal them. He even displayed them in his office in the Railway Exchange Building along with his fishing trophies and family photographs.
He was introduced to art by his parents when he was in his early teens. They traveled to Europe and toured various museums, trips which he later characterized as 'forced marches'. He did not learn to appreciate art until he was at Dartmouth where he took a course in modern art and architecture.
In the 1930s May visited the home in Chicago of the architect Samuel Marx, to whom his aunt was married, and from whom he would later commission a house. When interviewed in 1980, he spoke of the visit:
He bought some Pre-Columbian artwork immediately following the war, but mostly between 1945 and the mid-1950s he gave his attention to acquiring German Expressionist works, a movement which were virtually unknown in the United States at the time. In 1948 May asked his friend, the painter Maurice Freedman, if he knew of any artists who were doing good work but weren't very well known. Freedman mentioned Max Beckmann
to May, and soon May bought his first Beckmann from dealer Curt Valentin
in New York.
Then he discovered that Beckmann was teaching art at the nearby Washington University. "Imagine my surprise, here he was a quarter of a mile away.-Morton D. May" During Beckmann's time in St. Louis, he and May became friends. May, who was painting at the time hired Beckmann to be his tutor. May also commissioned a portrait from him in 1949. Over the years May purchased so many of Beckmann's works that his collection was one of the two major collections in the United States. (The other belonging to Dr. Stephan Lackner of Santa Barbara, California
)
May also collected works of other German Expressionist Masters of both Die Bruecke and Der Blaue Reiter
movements, and works by independents. Some of these include Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
, Lovis Corinth
, Wassily Kandinsky
, Franz Marc
, Erich Heckel
and Oskar Kokoschka
.
In the 1950s, when prices for German Expressionist paintings began to rise, May directed his attention to the expansion of his other collection, the works of art that he had liked so much in the Marx's apartment. He regarded his "primitive
" collection as an extension of his interest in Expressionist art. He found in both areas vitality and enormous expressiveness.
In 1960 May visited the Carlebach gallery in New York. He detailed his experience in an introduction to a catalogue for a show of his collection at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
During that time period, there wasn't much of a market for Melanesia
n Art, so what he considered to be authentic ritual pieces (pieces from before European contact) were available at low prices.
He also was a patron of unrecognized artists in St. Louis and elsewhere. He was the first to promote the artist Ernest Trova
. Trova had worked as a May Department Stores window designer. May gave Trova space in May's own studio to develop his abilities and talents. Later he sponsored an exhibit of Trova's works.
Over the course of his life May gifted around three thousand art objects to the Saint Louis Art Museum
, including 20th century paintings and sculptures, a large number of German Expressionist drawings, ritual objects from around the world, and Russian textiles. The majority of these however, were pre-Columbian objects. When the Museum's new pre-Columbian galleries opened in 1980 they included roughly three thousand objects, 86% of which were donated by May. During his lifetime, much of the rest of his collection was on loan to various museums around the world, but mostly to the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Washington University Gallery of Art, now called the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
.
He also bought art with the Saint Louis Art Museum in mind, with the intention of rounding out its collection.
Upon his death he gave the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Washington University Gallery of Art all of the art on loan to them at the time of his death. In addition, works of art on loan to other museums were bequeathed to the Saint Louis Art Museum. Photographs were the only exclusion.
Papers documenting the art collection of Morton D. May are housed in the archives of the Saint Louis Art Museum. One can view a description of the contents at this link.http://www.slrlc.org/record=b1052676 They are available to researchers by appointment.
with the free-lance photographer, Julian Bryan. The next year, he made a six month trip through Russia, Manchuria
, and Japan
, as Bryan's assistant, filming for The March of Time
series After that photography became a life-long passion, and he took his camera with him on his many trips and vacations around the world. Today eight of his photographs are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
,, and many are in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum.
languishing. He joined the effort for the riverfront memorial, and in 1959 was made president of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association. He was instrumental in the construction of the Gateway Arch
.
May headed fund drives for the Pius XII memorial Library at St. Louis University, and the development of a new Jewish Community Centers Association campus in St. Louis County. He was on the Washington University board of trustees, the boards of the United Fund, the Regional Commerce and Growth Association, and Civic Progress Inc. He was commissioner for the Art Museum and a member of Friends of Laumeier Sculpture Park
. He was chairman of the board of the St. Louis Symphony for eight years. He used his influence at the National Park Service
, (the director and he were old fishing buddies, his friendship with the man had also been instrumental in getting the Arch completed) to get funding for the symphony to play at the Arch. His dedication to music in St. Louis did not end with the symphony. He also saved the Dance Concert Society from bankruptcy.
In the early 1960s May organized the Arts and Education Council in St. Louis because the United Way decided to stop funding cultural organizations to concentrate on health and welfare agencies.
The Boy Scouts of America
were always important to him. He was instrumental in the acquisition and development of the St. Louis Council's Beaumont Reservation near Eureka, Missouri
and the S-F Scout Ranch near Knob Lick, MO. He was also a member of the Boy Scout National Executive Board.
offered him the chairmanship of the National Council on the Arts, an advisory committee to the National Endowment for the Arts
. He turned it down so that he could stay in St. Louis.
He was awarded the Levee Stone for his efforts on behalf of downtown Saint Louis, and Washington University's William Greenleaf Eliot Society Award. For his work on behalf of the Boy Scouts, he was given two of their top awards, the Silver Antelope and the Silver Beaver
. He was also given honorary degrees at Webster University
, University of Missouri at St. Louis, and Drury College. In 1959 the St. Louis Globe-Democrat unanimously chose him as Man Of The Year.
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
and art collector. He was also at various times director, chairman of the board, and chief executive officer of the May Department Stores
May Department Stores
The May Department Stores Company was a national department store chain in the United States, founded in 1877 by David May. The company ceased to exist in 2005 when it was merged with Federated Department Stores, Inc . Prior to the merger it was headquartered in Downtown St. Louis, Missouri...
Company.
Biography
Morton D. May was the grandson of David May, who started the family in merchandising from a canvas roofed makeshift shop, in the then populous city of Leadville, ColoradoColorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, during a gold strike in 1877. He soon came to the conclusion that there was no future there, and moved his business across the nation a few times finally setting in 1893 in St. Louis, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. He opened a store called Famous Clothing. Later he bought out the William Barr Dry Goods Co.
Famous-Barr
The Famous-Barr Co. , St. Louis, Missouri, was a division of Macy's, Inc. . It was formerly the hometown division of The May Department Stores Company, which was acquired by Federated on August 30, 2005. On February 1, 2006, it was subsumed into the newly created Macy's Midwest division.The...
, and Famous-Barr
Famous-Barr
The Famous-Barr Co. , St. Louis, Missouri, was a division of Macy's, Inc. . It was formerly the hometown division of The May Department Stores Company, which was acquired by Federated on August 30, 2005. On February 1, 2006, it was subsumed into the newly created Macy's Midwest division.The...
was created. Morton J. May, David May's son took over the family enterprise, and ran it successfully for many years during Morton D. May's childhood.
Morton D. May lived a life of privilege, attending St. Louis's Country Day school, and then Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
.
Career
Despite his privileged position as heir to May Department Stores fortune, May started out his career with a summer position in the complaints department. After that he held nearly every position from stock clerk to chairman of the board. In 1951 he was elected president of the corporation, a position which he held until 1967. Then he was chairman of the board until 1972. He was also chief executive officer from 1957 to 1968. He retired from the corporation's board of directors in 1982 and was elected director emeritus.Art Collection
May became interested in collecting art through his uncle by marriage Samuel Abraham MarxSamuel Abraham Marx
Samuel Abraham Marx was an American architect, designer and interior decorator. He is generally considered a modernist, influenced by the International style.-Biography:...
in the early 1940s but was interrupted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. When the war was over he traveled to galleries in New York and began investigating the paintings of American artists and Cubists
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
, but soon his interests drifted elsewhere. He was well known for not being a fashionable collector.
When his contemporaries were buying School of Paris
School of Paris
School of Paris refers to two distinct groups of artists — a group of medieval manuscript illuminators, and a group of non-French artists working in Paris before World War I...
pictures, May was buying tough German Expressionist
German Expressionism
German Expressionism refers to a number of related creative movements beginning in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin, during the 1920s...
pictures that turned out to be masterpieces.
In general May focused his collection in three areas, German Expressionism, Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
, and the indigenous arts of various cultures around the globe, including primarily art from Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, and other Pre-Columbian art that was not specifically from Mesoamerica. In these areas his goal was comprehensiveness. Because he bought so extensively, he sometimes made mistakes, which he famously laughed off, making no effort to conceal them. He even displayed them in his office in the Railway Exchange Building along with his fishing trophies and family photographs.
He was introduced to art by his parents when he was in his early teens. They traveled to Europe and toured various museums, trips which he later characterized as 'forced marches'. He did not learn to appreciate art until he was at Dartmouth where he took a course in modern art and architecture.
In the 1930s May visited the home in Chicago of the architect Samuel Marx, to whom his aunt was married, and from whom he would later commission a house. When interviewed in 1980, he spoke of the visit:
He bought some Pre-Columbian artwork immediately following the war, but mostly between 1945 and the mid-1950s he gave his attention to acquiring German Expressionist works, a movement which were virtually unknown in the United States at the time. In 1948 May asked his friend, the painter Maurice Freedman, if he knew of any artists who were doing good work but weren't very well known. Freedman mentioned Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement...
to May, and soon May bought his first Beckmann from dealer Curt Valentin
Curt Valentin
Curt Valentin was a German-born American art dealer known for handling modern art, particularly sculpture, and works classified as "degenerate" by the Nazi regime in pre-war Germany....
in New York.
Then he discovered that Beckmann was teaching art at the nearby Washington University. "Imagine my surprise, here he was a quarter of a mile away.-Morton D. May" During Beckmann's time in St. Louis, he and May became friends. May, who was painting at the time hired Beckmann to be his tutor. May also commissioned a portrait from him in 1949. Over the years May purchased so many of Beckmann's works that his collection was one of the two major collections in the United States. (The other belonging to Dr. Stephan Lackner of Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
)
May also collected works of other German Expressionist Masters of both Die Bruecke and Der Blaue Reiter
Der Blaue Reiter
Der Blaue Reiter was a group of artists from the Neue Künstlervereinigung München in Munich, Germany. The group was founded by a number of Russian emigrants, including Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, Marianne von Werefkin, and native German artists, such as Franz Marc, August Macke and...
movements, and works by independents. Some of these include Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff
Karl Schmidt-Rottluff was a German expressionist painter and printmaker, and a member of Die Brücke.-Life and work:...
, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
Ernst Ludwig Kirchner was a German expressionist painter and printmaker and one of the founders of the artists group Die Brücke or "The Bridge", a key group leading to the foundation of Expressionism in 20th century art. He volunteered for army service in the First World War, but soon suffered a...
, Lovis Corinth
Lovis Corinth
Lovis Corinth was a German painter and printmaker whose mature work realized a synthesis of impressionism and expressionism....
, Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
, Franz Marc
Franz Marc
Franz Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of the German Expressionist movement...
, Erich Heckel
Erich Heckel
Erich Heckel was a German painter and printmaker, and a founding member of the Die Brücke group which existed 1905-1913.-Biography:Heckel was born in Döbeln . His parents were born in Saxony...
and Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka
Oskar Kokoschka was an Austrian artist, poet and playwright best known for his intense expressionistic portraits and landscapes.-Biography:...
.
In the 1950s, when prices for German Expressionist paintings began to rise, May directed his attention to the expansion of his other collection, the works of art that he had liked so much in the Marx's apartment. He regarded his "primitive
Primitive
Primitive may refer to:* Anarcho-primitivism, an anarchist critique of the origins and progress of civilization* Primitive culture, one that lacks major signs of economic development or modernity...
" collection as an extension of his interest in Expressionist art. He found in both areas vitality and enormous expressiveness.
In 1960 May visited the Carlebach gallery in New York. He detailed his experience in an introduction to a catalogue for a show of his collection at the Saint Louis Art Museum.
During that time period, there wasn't much of a market for Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
n Art, so what he considered to be authentic ritual pieces (pieces from before European contact) were available at low prices.
He also was a patron of unrecognized artists in St. Louis and elsewhere. He was the first to promote the artist Ernest Trova
Ernest Trova
Ernest Tino Trova was a self-trained American surrealist and pop art painter and sculptor. Best known for his signature image and figure series, The Falling Man, Trova considered his entire output a single "work in progress." Trova used classic American comic character toys in some of his pieces...
. Trova had worked as a May Department Stores window designer. May gave Trova space in May's own studio to develop his abilities and talents. Later he sponsored an exhibit of Trova's works.
Over the course of his life May gifted around three thousand art objects to the Saint Louis Art Museum
Saint Louis Art Museum
The Saint Louis Art Museum is one of the principal U.S. art museums, visited by up to a half million people every year. Admission is free through a subsidy from the cultural tax district for St. Louis City and County.Located in Forest Park in St...
, including 20th century paintings and sculptures, a large number of German Expressionist drawings, ritual objects from around the world, and Russian textiles. The majority of these however, were pre-Columbian objects. When the Museum's new pre-Columbian galleries opened in 1980 they included roughly three thousand objects, 86% of which were donated by May. During his lifetime, much of the rest of his collection was on loan to various museums around the world, but mostly to the Saint Louis Art Museum, and the Washington University Gallery of Art, now called the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, sometimes referred to simply as "The Milly", is an art museum located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, within the university's Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. It was founded in 1881 as the St. Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts, and...
.
He also bought art with the Saint Louis Art Museum in mind, with the intention of rounding out its collection.
Upon his death he gave the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Washington University Gallery of Art all of the art on loan to them at the time of his death. In addition, works of art on loan to other museums were bequeathed to the Saint Louis Art Museum. Photographs were the only exclusion.
Papers documenting the art collection of Morton D. May are housed in the archives of the Saint Louis Art Museum. One can view a description of the contents at this link.http://www.slrlc.org/record=b1052676 They are available to researchers by appointment.
Photography
In 1934, during his studies at Dartmouth, he had a rare opportunity to travel to RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
with the free-lance photographer, Julian Bryan. The next year, he made a six month trip through Russia, Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
, and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, as Bryan's assistant, filming for The March of Time
The March of Time
The March of Time is a radio series, and companion newsreel series, that was broadcast on CBS from 1931 to 1945 and shown in movie theaters from 1935 to 1951. It was created by Time, Inc. executive Roy Edward Larsen, and was produced and written by Louis de Rochemont and his brother Richard de...
series After that photography became a life-long passion, and he took his camera with him on his many trips and vacations around the world. Today eight of his photographs are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,, and many are in the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Other Philanthropy
When May returned from the service, he found the ten year old plans for the Jefferson National Expansion MemorialJefferson National Expansion Memorial
The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial is in St. Louis, Missouri, near the starting point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was designated as a National Memorial by Executive Order 7523, on December 21, 1935, and is maintained by the National Park Service .The park was established to...
languishing. He joined the effort for the riverfront memorial, and in 1959 was made president of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association. He was instrumental in the construction of the Gateway Arch
Gateway Arch
The Gateway Arch, or Gateway to the West, is an arch that is the centerpiece of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri. It was built as a monument to the westward expansion of the United States...
.
May headed fund drives for the Pius XII memorial Library at St. Louis University, and the development of a new Jewish Community Centers Association campus in St. Louis County. He was on the Washington University board of trustees, the boards of the United Fund, the Regional Commerce and Growth Association, and Civic Progress Inc. He was commissioner for the Art Museum and a member of Friends of Laumeier Sculpture Park
Laumeier Sculpture Park
Laumeier Sculpture Park is a open-air museum and sculpture park located in Sunset Hills, Missouri, near St. Louis and is maintained by the St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department. It houses over 70 outdoor sculptures and features a walking trail, outdoor movies, and summer camps...
. He was chairman of the board of the St. Louis Symphony for eight years. He used his influence at the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
, (the director and he were old fishing buddies, his friendship with the man had also been instrumental in getting the Arch completed) to get funding for the symphony to play at the Arch. His dedication to music in St. Louis did not end with the symphony. He also saved the Dance Concert Society from bankruptcy.
In the early 1960s May organized the Arts and Education Council in St. Louis because the United Way decided to stop funding cultural organizations to concentrate on health and welfare agencies.
The Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
were always important to him. He was instrumental in the acquisition and development of the St. Louis Council's Beaumont Reservation near Eureka, Missouri
Eureka, Missouri
Eureka is a city located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, between St. Louis and Pacific, Missouri, along Interstate 44. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 10,189. The city is west of the former site of Times Beach, the site of dioxin contamination discovered in...
and the S-F Scout Ranch near Knob Lick, MO. He was also a member of the Boy Scout National Executive Board.
Awards and honors
President Richard NixonRichard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
offered him the chairmanship of the National Council on the Arts, an advisory committee to the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
. He turned it down so that he could stay in St. Louis.
He was awarded the Levee Stone for his efforts on behalf of downtown Saint Louis, and Washington University's William Greenleaf Eliot Society Award. For his work on behalf of the Boy Scouts, he was given two of their top awards, the Silver Antelope and the Silver Beaver
Silver Beaver Award
The Silver Beaver Award is the council-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. Recipients of this award are registered adult leaders who have made an impact on the lives of youth through service given to the council...
. He was also given honorary degrees at Webster University
Webster University
Webster University is an American non-profit private university with its main campus in Webster Groves, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri. Webster University is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and is a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools...
, University of Missouri at St. Louis, and Drury College. In 1959 the St. Louis Globe-Democrat unanimously chose him as Man Of The Year.