Anonymous art donor comes forth

Art history professor John Wilmerding came forward Friday as the previously anonymous donor of a large collection of pop art to the University Art Museum in 2004.

The collection's nearly 50 paintings, sculptures and works on paper include many rare pieces by 1960s American artists such as Robert Indiana, Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann.

Wilmerding's disclosure, which came at a reception and dinner in honor of his retirement Friday evening, has stimulated philanthropic responses in his honor. More than 100 donors collectively purchased a painting by 19th-century American painter Rubens Peale for the museum's collection, while another one million dollars was donated anonymously. The University matched the latter donation with a challenge grant of $750,000 for a new museum curatorship that will bear Wilmerding's name.

The new John Wilmerding Curator of American Art will be expected to continue publishing the University's American Art collection, following the publication of "American Art in the Princeton University Art Museum, Volume 1: Drawings and Watercolors" by Wilmerding and Laura Giles, curator of prints and drawings, in 2004.

"For 20 years, John Wilmerding has advanced the growth and appreciation of American art at Princeton," Museum Director Susan Taylor said in a statement. "[I]t is especially appropriate that this curatorship be established in his name."

Wilmerding's gift complements Princeton's holdings of James Rosenquist, Edward Ruscha and George Segal, making the museum's collection of pop art one of the strongest and most complete in the country.

"Wilmerding's scholarship in the field of American art will continue to have an impact on students and scholars for generations to come," Taylor said.

"Though he is retiring from the Princeton faculty, these extraordinary works will be here to continue and celebrate his legacy," she added. "We are grateful to Professor Wilmerding for his generosity and the inspiration he has given, and will continue to give, to generations of students in the field."

Wilmerding himself said he is most excited about the Peale painting donated to the Art Museum in his honor. "I am most thankful to my friends and colleagues for having chosen this remarkable work in honor of my tenure here at Princeton," he said in a statement.

He could not be reached for further comment.

The painting, "Still Life with Watermelon," was chosen for its significance in the field of American art. Peale also has a personal connection to Princeton: His father, Charles Peale, painted the first portrait — the iconic "George Washington at the Battle of Princeton" — ever commissioned by the trustees of the College of New Jersey, as Princeton was known in its earlier days.

The reception at which Wilmerding stepped forward celebrated his long career at the University. He has been an art and archeology professor at Princeton since 1988 and is scheduled to retire this summer. He is well-remembered for his groundbreaking monographs and exhibition catalogs, which have defined scholarship in the field of American art.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

He came to Princeton after spending six years as a curator of American art at the National Gallery of Art and another five as its deputy director. The Gallery has also benefited from Wilmerding's philanthropy: In 2004, he donated 51 paintings and drawings from the 19th century by artists such as Frederic Edwin Church, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, Martin Johnson Heade and George Caleb Bingham to its collection.

"I decided to do it in my lifetime, instead of in a dreary obituary that I would never read," Wilmerding told the Princeton Weekly Bulletin about his donation to the National Gallery in 2004. "Part of it was the pleasure of doing something I could enjoy."