Date: Fri 03-Jul-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Lipman

Full Text:

Jean Lipman, 88, Author, Editor, Collector Of American Art

CAREFREE, ARIZ. -- Jean Herzberg Lipman, a pioneer collector of American folk

art and Twentieth Century sculpture who also edited the magazine Art In

America from 1940 to 1970 and authored 26 books and many articles relating to

folk and contemporary art, died at home in Carefree on June 20. She was 88

years old.

"She was one of the last of a generation that participated in the parallel

development of Modernism and the folk-art field," reflected Gerard C. Wertkin,

director of the Museum of American Folk Art in New York. "During her

editorship of Art in America, its pages were more receptive to serious

scholarship about folk art than any other general-interest art magazine then

-- or since. Her research and publications remain essential to an

understanding of American folk art."

Mrs Lipman was born in New York City and grew up in Manhattan. She received

her bachelor's degree from Wellesley and her master's degree from New York

University's Institute of Fine Arts. In 1933, she married Howard Lipman, a

founding partner of the brokerage firm Neuberger & Berman in 1940. Mr Lipman

was a trustee of the Whitney Museum of American Art until his death in 1992.

He also served as the Whitney's chairman.

"I pass it almost every day, a classic Connecticut farmhouse, close by the

road with a massive barn, sloping meadow, rail fences, stone walls, and the

remnants of an ancient apple orchard," Ruth Wolfe wrote of the Eighteenth

Century dwelling that the Lipmans acquired in 1937. Wolfe provided a thorough

and insightful profile of her colleague and longtime friend in a piece

published in the Antiques Journal in March 1989.

The Lipmans remained in Wilton until moving to Arizona in 1980. While

renovating their Connecticut house, they became interested in American folk

painting, carving, and furniture as art, anticipating the esteem in which such

work is held today.

Describing the Lipmans' initial foray into folk art collecting, Wolfe writes

of their Cannondale, Conn., home, "an empty space over the sofa cried out for

a painting, and one day Howard came home to report that he had seen something

interesting at Edith Halpert's American folk art gallery in New York." Jean

hesitated and lost the painting. After that, she remarked, "I never delayed a

moment when I saw an unusual picture."

"Beginning in 1938," writes Wolfe, "the Lipmans collected for the next 12

years with discipline, knowledge, and single-mindedness. They frequented

antiques shops throughout New England, Pennsylvania, and New York State, as

well as the New York galleries that exhibited American folk art. All their

vacations were collecting trips." Of their many adventures, none was more

memorable than a late night visit to the Riverdale, N.Y., home of sculptor

Elie Nadelmam, from whom they purchased a fireboard.

Mrs Lipman recorded their activities in her "little black book," now in the

archives of the Museum of American Folk Art. "The prices," writes Wolfe, "are

enough to make today's collectors weep." They paid no more than $10 for many

drawings and watercolors. In 1945, they borrowed money to buy a Hicks

"Peaceable Kingdom" for $3,500.

Through intermediary Mary Allis, a folk art dealer from Southport, Conn., the

Lipmans in 1950 sold a portion of their collection to Stephen Clark,

benefactor of the New York State Historical Association in Cooperstown. The

price of $75,000 was arrived at by doubling the cost of the 231 paintings, 73

sculptures, and 40 miscellaneous pieces included in the group. In 1981, the

Museum of American Folk Art purchased for $1 million their remaining holdings.

The museum accessioned 33 objects, among the most important in its collection,

and sold the remaining objects to help support the purchase.

Mrs Lipman's interest in American folk art led to the publication of her first

book, American Primitive Painting, by Oxford University Press in 1942. A

seminal reference, it has been reprinted as a Dover paperback. As an authority

on American folk carving and painted antique furniture, Mrs Lipman's advice

was frequently sought by museum curators and art dealers. She became

proficient in early decorative techniques and restoration, and one of her

books, American Folk Decoration, provided explanations of decorative methods

of previous eras.

Mrs Lipman joined the board of trustees of the fledgling Museum of American

Folk Art in 1965. She continued as a member of the board of trustees until

becoming a trustee emerita in 1978, a position that she held until her death.

She conceived and organized two major exhibitions for the Museum of American

Folk Art. "Young America: A Folk-Art History" was presented at the IBM Gallery

of Science and Art in 1986 prior to a national tour. "Five-Star Folk Art: One

Hundred American Masterpieces" was presented in 1990. In both exhibitions Mrs

Lipman worked closely with the museum's former curator, Elizabeth V. Warren,

who served as curator of these shows.

Jean Lipman also was co-author of the books published in connection with these

exhibitions: Young America -- A Folk Art History (Hudson Hills Press in

association with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1986) and Five Star Folk

Art: One Hundred American Masterpieces (Harry N. Abrams, Inc, in association

with the Museum of American Folk Art, 1990).

In the late 1930s Jean Lipman began to help with editing Art in America, then

a respected scholarly journal having a circulation of only a few hundred. In

1940, she became editor. During her 30-year tenure, the magazine became one of

the art world's most important and influential periodicals. Writes Wolfe, "...

her contributions to American art in general cannot be over-estimated. Over a

30-year period she transformed an academic quarterly with a few

black-and-white plates into a full-color, handsome bimonthly with lively

appeal."

In the 1950s, the Lipmans renewed a longstanding interest in contemporary art,

becoming active collectors of American sculpture, especially work by young

artists. At the Whitney Museum of American Art, they helped assemble a

collection of Twentieth Century American sculpture that has been described as

the most significant of its type in the world. Mrs Lipman became editor of

publications at the Whitney in 1971, where she also co-curated several major

exhibitions. Mrs Lipman became close friends with Alexander Calder, Louise

Nevelson, and David Smith, whom she felt were the most important sculptors of

our time.

Two of her major art books were about Calder and Nevelson. Her book Calder's

Universe, prepared in conjunction with a major retrospective exhibit of

Calder's work at the Whitney Museum in 1976, is now in its 14th edition.

Later, she became an artist on her own, combining painting and collage to

comment on desert landscapes, historical events, and art-world topics.

One-person exhibitions were held at several galleries and the Arizona State

University Art Museum. In May 1998, the ASU College of Arts presented her with

its Distinguished Achievement Award.

At the time of her death, Jean Lipman was working with Wertkin on "Folk Art

Travelogue," an exhibition tracing the history of travel and transportation in

America through folk art. In recent years, she was a major donor to the

museum's permanent collection. Among several dozen gifts of objects were an

important blanket chest attributed to the South Shaftsbury, Vt., workshop of

Thomas Matteson (circa 1825) and other painted and decorated furniture.

In honor of the expert, the Museum of American Folk Art established the Jean

Lipman Fellows, a group devoted to supporting and expanding the museum's

collection. On June 16, the Jean Lipman Fellows gathered for their annual

meeting and elected to purchase a Morris Hirshfield painting, "Four Cats."

Mrs Lipman is survived by her son, Peter, of Portola Valley, Calif.; and two

grandsons, Benjamin and Timothy. A private memorial service was held at her

house in Carefree on June 29. Donations may be made to the Museum of American

Folk Art, 2 Lincoln Square, New York, N.Y. 10023.