Fogg Gets 'Fabulous' Art Collection; 18 Modern Artists' Works Included

Over, thirty paintings, drawings, and sculptures by modern artists--a collection of "fabulous quality"--have been left to the Fogg Museum in the will of Maurice Wertheim '06, Director John P. Coolidge '35 of the Museum revealed yesterday.

Coolidge stated that he had not seen the exact conditions of the will, and therefore could not tell if there were any restrictions on the bequest. The paintings may be kept by Mrs. Wertheim, however, until her death, at which time they will be moved to the Museum. It is also probable that they will have to be kept in a unit.

Paintings by Cezanne, Degas, Gaugin, Manet, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Toulouse-Lautrec are included in the gift. Sculptures by Despiau and Maillol, and drawings by Guys, Matisse, Picasso, and Renoir also are listed in the bequest.

Collection Shown at Fogg

"The paintings are very carefully selected," Coolidge said, "and the collection, though recent, is of a consistently high level." Wertheim has long been a patron of the Fogg Museum, and this collection was exhibited in 1946 at Fogg.

"The paintings are as good as exists," Coolidge said, "and by in large are characteristic of the artists represented." Wertheim bought the best possible examples for his collection, with an eye to leaving them to the Museum. In the later years of his collection, he thought of their future maximum teaching usefulness at Harvard, buying three paintings of Renoir, for instance, which illustrated his early, middle, and late periods.

33 Works Listed

Wertheim listed 33 works of art when the will was drawn in 1948, but there may have been additions and changes in the collection since. Wertheim was always prepared to improve his collection by trading or purchasing new works, and it is not known what other pieces, if any, have been added in the period between the drawing of the will and his death.

Among the paintings listed in the will are: "The Rehearsal," by Degas; "Nature a la Commode," by Cezanne; "The Racetrack at Deauville," by Dufy; "Poemes Barbares," by Gaugin; "Le Skating," by Manet; "Apples," by Matisse; and Van Gogh's self-portrait.

Wertheim was 64 when he died May 27 at his estate in Connecticut. he was a noted financier, philanthropist, and sportsman, and founder and director of the New York Theatre Guild. He willed the major part of his estate to his wife.