Page 7 - 2020 Nov 30 Christies Hong Kong Springfield Museum Imperial Art

FOREWORD

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` The key note of this collection, was intended to be, a
and is, beauty – beauty and repose, beauty of form.
George Walter Vincent Smith

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ྋჷⅲ⟞ლǏ⨓゠ⅲ⟞ლ䢲ۢ͠⧀̃⡊Ϝⅲပᄖⅲ⟞ლǐǚ
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Established in 1896, and housed in a building modelled after an Italian palazzo,
the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum was founded by George Walter
Vincent Smith (1832-1923) and his wife Belle Townsley Smith (1845-1928) and
embodies the vision of the couple whose eclectic collection it contains. As a
young man, George Walter Vincent Smith made his fortune as a partner at
Stivers and Smith Carriage Emporium, a New York City carriage manufacturing
company best known for beautifully decorated carriages fashioned with high-
end fabrics. Smith’s successful career, which combined an appreciation for
beauty with business savvy, enabled him to retire at the age of just thirty-five
and to pursue his true passion: collecting art. In 1871, Smith moved to the
thriving industrial city of Springfield, Massachusetts, the hometown of his wife
Belle Townsley Smith. In 1891, after several decades of enthusiastic purchasing,
the Smiths generously gifted their collection to the privately run City Library
Association (now the Springfield Museums Corporation), overseeing the
construction of the building to house their objects. Mr. Smith served as the
museum’s first director and curator.

At the time of the museum’s opening, the still-growing collection of about
5,000 objects included contemporary American and Italian masterworks
and furniture, European lace and Middle Eastern rugs. However, it was the
extraordinary depth of the rare and unusual objects from China and Japan
that was most appealing to visitors and critics. Unsurprisingly, in 1905, the
publication Springfield Present and Prospective promoted the GWVS Art
Museum as the city’s cultural gem and stated, “The principle and striking
feature of the collections is the predominance of the art in porcelains, cloisonné
ware, bronzes, jades, iron, lacquer, and ivory, of Japan and China…”

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