Word: karolik
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Until a Russian-born tenor named Maxim Karolik came along, the first half of the 19th Century was rated a mediocre period in U.S. art. American painting at that time showed little of the imagination and enterprise that marked the nation's westward expansion; most artists contented themselves with rusty, romantic sunsets and tight, bright genre scenes. The dreamy landscapes of the Hudson River School and Albert Bierstadt's Wagnerian-mood pictures of the Rocky Mountains were considered the best...
...years ago, Karolik and his wife, a Boston millionheiress, decided that the 1815-65 period had been too long underrated. They began buying up the best examples they could find. As they prowled from dealer to dealer, prices rose, and so did the reputations of such little-known artists as John Quidor, Martin Johnson Heade and Fitz Hugh Lane. Less affluent collectors, sniffing the same faint scents, helped stir the interest of attic rummagers...
Since his wife's death three years ago, Karolik has spent most of his time on the collection. He also collects and breeds rare strains of Russian and Rumanian pigeons. "Bot thees is a hobby," he says. "Collecting paintings for me is not jost a reech man's hobby; I work at that...
...result of Karolik's work in the neglected field of early 19th Century U.S. art went on permanent exhibition last week in a refurbished wing of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. One of the most important gifts the museum ever received, the 233 paintings reflect the professional judgment of William Constable, the museum's Curator of Paintings, who helped the Karoliks pick them...
...beauty of the collection, says Karolik, is that "it expresses its own idiom, which is definitely American." The two pictures on the opposite page are clearly in that idiom. William Sharp's Railroad Jubilee on Boston Common, painted an even century ago, celebrates with Fourth of July fervor the westward march of the railroad empire builders. James Goodwyn Clonney's wooden Sleigh Ride has New England winter clarity and fireside warmth...