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Splendors Are Many at Morgan Library

A Matter Of Taste Splendors Are Many At Morgan Library By WILLIAM PAHLMANN I was invited recently by a Fellow of the Morgan Library to attend an evening party at the library. Unlike most museums today, the Morgan is a quiet enclave dedicated to the research purposes of authors, scholars and graduate students with the proper credentials. It has no taste for publicity, any more than John Pierpont Morgan who founded it had, or his son, who dedicated it as a research institute in his father's memory. The Morgan is suitably endowed and does not have to raise money. The library occupies two buildings, built by J.P. Morgan the elder and J.P. Morgan, his son, along with an addition which contains an auditorium. The original building was commissioned by Morgan senior in 1900 when his collection of manuscripts and rare volumes became so enormous that they were stored all over town. McKim, Mead and White designed the building in the Italdan Renaissance style, with unpierced walls of white mar. ble, built without the use of mortar. It was finished in 1908. The annex, designed by Benjamin W. Morris, was planned to complement the original structure. It is also of white marble and has been renovated at a cost of over a million dollars in the past 10 years. The Municipal Art Society considers the Morgan Library complex to be the only buildings in New York City built in the 20th century which deserve "Preservation at all costs." While the exteriors are Impressively beautiful, the magnificence of the interiors is almost indescribable. The East room is a vaulting library with a Renaissance fireplace, frescoed walls, priceless tapestries and fine books. The West room, which was J.P. Morgan's study, has walls of red silk damask, an intricate Italian ceiling, a marble fireplace, massive furniture and many works of art, a triumph of the interior designers' art in the age of elegance. The collections also so beggar description. The museum is unsurpassed in the Western Hemisphere for its treasury of Renaissance and medieval illuminated manuscripts, master drawings, early printed books and book bindings. Morgan was a renowned collector not only of books and manuscripts but of art treasures. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, of which he was president, received after his death a valuable portion of his collection which is now housed in the Pierpont Morgan wing of the Metropolitan. While Morgan did not become a collector until after he was 50 years old, he lived to be 75 and became one of the great collectors of all time. In addition to rare books and manuscripts, the Morgan Library also contains significant collections of paintings, sculpture, decorative arts and rare memorabilia. A party at the Morgan Library is an elegant occasion, conducted with formality and decorum and the splendor of the past. Black tie is obligatory and does not include evening pajamas or turtleneck sweaters. Refreshments were laid out on a fine old carved table in the East Room, with its twostory stacks of fine bindings behind plate glass, gleaming in scarlet and gold. The table was decorated with flowers, massive candelabra and fine porcelains. Punch was served -no spiritous liquors were offered. The guests actually engaged in genuine conversation, as there were no photographers, reporters or television cameras. It was a social occasion. While the Morgan Library does not seek the limelight, it has a regular series of exhibitions, and its various treasures are on display in rotation. It is open to the public several days a week.
Article from 20 May 1969The Standard-Star(New Rochelle, NY)
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