Description:
“I now feel that these things are the greatest art in the world,” wrote Charles Lang Freer, to a close friend. “. . . greater than Greek, Chinese or Japanese.” Surprising words from the man who created one of the finest collections of Asian art at the turn of the century and donated the collection and funds to the Smithsonian Institution for the construction of the museum that now bears his name, the Freer Gallery of Art. But Freer (1854-1919) became fascinated with Egyptian art during three trips there, between 1906 and 1909, and acquired the bulk of his collection while on site. From jewel-like ancient glass vessels to sacred amulets with supposed magical properties to impressive stone guardian falcons and more, his purchases were diverse and intriguing.
Drawing on a wealth of unpublished letters, diaries, and other sources housed in the Freer Gallery of Art Archives, A Collector’s Journey documents Freer’s experience in Egypt and discusses the place Egyptian art occupied in his notions of beauty and collecting aims. The author reconstructs Freer’s journeys and describes the often colorful characters—collectors, dealers, scholars, and artists—he met on the way. Gunter also places Freer’s travels and collecting in the broader context of American tourism and interest in Egyptian antiquities at the time—a period in which a growing number of Americans, including such financial giants as J. Pierpont Morgan and other Gilded Age barons, were collecting in the same field.
