Nothing Like Seeing “Wal-Mart” and “Art” in the Same Sentence
When I saw the headline Wal-Mart heiress roils art world while “taking a break” and visiting MSN Entertainment (my biggest vice-entertainment gossip!) how could I ignore it? While I still consider Wal-Mart to be evil, at least they are using some of that power for good for a change (even if it is in their typically agressive way)…
BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart heiress Alice Walton jolted the art world in 2005 by outbidding two venerable East Coast museums for an iconic New York painting, paying a record price for the 1849 Asher B. Durand work “Kindred Spirits.”
The purchase heralded the avid collector’s plan to found a major new museum of American art in northwest Arkansas, home of her late father’s company. The project is starting to take physical shape since foundation pouring began in October.
Dubbed Crystal Bridges for a natural spring and the bridges that will span two ponds in the center of the compound, the glass-and-wood design by architect Moshe Safdie will cover 100,000 square feet when the museum opens in 2010.
It aims to be “a premier national art institution” dedicated to American art and artists from the Colonial period through the modern era, according to the museum Web site.
Bringing masterpieces to a folksy corner of the Ozarks better known for Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., has spurred some art world reactions “ranging from fascination to skepticism to fear,” the journal ARTnews wrote. There is also excitement among art professionals over what some describe as a major new museum, one of only a handful nationally focused on American art history.
“The collection, as far as it’s been made known, is superb,” said Betty Krulik, a New York art dealer who specializes in American art. “Alice Walton is an experienced collector and Crystal Bridges is an exciting, major new institution.”
The collection includes Gilbert Stuart’s 1797 painting of George Washington, Charles Bird King’s early 19th-century portraits of American Indian leaders, and works by Winslow Homer, Norman Rockwell and Martin Johnson Heade.
Museum director Robert G. Workman, a 30-year veteran of the art world and former deputy director of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth , says reports suggesting his big city peers are taking a snobbish view of the $50 million project are not true.
“Almost to a person, they’re absolutely thrilled that this project is underway and that it’s bringing a very high quality of art to an underserved region,” Workman told The Associated Press.
Alice Walton declined an interview request for this story. The heiress, who lives on a horse ranch west of Fort Worth, Texas, has collected American art for over 20 years. She met Workman as a board member of the Amon Carter.
The museum is a series of glass-and-wood pavilions with copper roofs set in a narrow valley around two ponds and connected by bridges. It is surrounded by more than 100 acres of rolling Ozarks forest, donated by the Walton family, to reflect the role that nature and landscapes have played in American art and the nation’s history.
“We want the forest and the buildings to meet in a way that maximizes the interaction of art and nature and the human mix,” Workman said.
Visitors will follow a half-mile lane through the woods to arrive at a knoll looking over the pavilions. From the knoll, a four-story-high tower of glass elevators will lead down to a courtyard facing a glass lobby with a view of the water.
“It’s going to look like the buildings were just set down in the middle of the forest,” Workman said.
The museum will include about 34,000 square feet of exhibition space as well as a cafe, performance hall, library and research center.
Trails will link the grounds with the historic Bentonville square and the museum expects about 250,000 visitors annually. Bentonville has fewer than 30,000 people but the surrounding 60-mile radius is one of the fastest growing areas in the nation with over 500,000 people, according to U.S. Census figures.
Regional tourism officials are already touting the museum, including in bids for national conference business at a new convention center in Rogers, bordering Bentonville.
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