Page 260 - Bonhams Passkon and Philanthropy MET Mjuseum March 2024 Asia Week

Florence Rapaport Irving (1920-2018)
and Herbert Irving (1917-2016)

Lots 180 - 193

Florence (née Rapoport) (1920-2017) and Herbert Irving (1917-2016) with the Museum throughout her lifetime, steadfastly serving on the
were both born in Brooklyn and spent their lives in New York. Each Department of Asian Art Visiting Committee and as the Chairwoman
developed an appreciation for art during their youth while visiting of the Friends of Asian Art. The Irvings lent a selection of their
the Brooklyn Museum, and once the two married in 1941, together collection to the Museum’s exhibition East Asian Lacquer: The
they deepened their knowledge in the field and discovered a shared Florence and Herbert Irving Collection (1991), funded the Florence
passion for Asian art. Sysco, the company that Mr. Irving co-founded and Herbert Irving Galleries for South and South east Asian Art
in 1969, grew to be the largest food distribution company in the (opened 1994), and supported the creation of the Florence and
world, and its success allowed the Irvings to devote significant Herbert Irving Galleries for Chinese Decorative Arts (opened 1997).
resources to philanthropic causes and amassing one of the most Due to their ongoing contributions, in 2004 the second floor of the
significant Asian art collections of their generation. While pursuing a Museum’s Asian Wing was renamed The Florence and Herbert Irving
master’s in education at Hofstra University, Mrs. Irving often passed Asian Wing in their honor. They also avidly supported the Museum’s
the firm of the landscape architect Shogo Myaida (1897–1989). One Thomas J. Watson Library, which includes the Florence and Herbert
day, she stopped in to consult Myaida about a Japanese garden she Irving Reading Room and a librarian position named in their honor.
was planning for the couple’s front yard. The conversation proved In 2011, the couple endowed the position of Florence and Herbert
highly stimulating and in 1967 the Irvings flew to Japan to buy stone Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia. In addition to
lanterns and other garden ornaments. While they were there, they these significant contributions, they donated over 1,200 Asian works
met the influential Asian art dealer Alice Boney (1901–1988). Boney of art to the Museum in 2015, and in their wills, allowed the Museum
became a mentor and advisor to the Irvings, often sending groups of to select any additional artworks it desired from their personal
artworks to their home, allowing them to select their favorite pieces. collection, and left it a further $80 million gift. The Metropolitan
By working with her and other dealers, the Irvings acquired important Museum was not the only beneficiary of the Irvings’ generosity
works from across China, Japan, Korea, India, the Himalayas, during and after their lifetimes. Mrs. Irving was also a Trustee of the
and Southeast Asia. They were particularly attracted to lacquers Brooklyn Museum. The couple became the largest benefactors to the
from East Asia and to South and Southeast Asian sculpture. Their Columbia University and NewYork-Presbyterian hospitals, donating
fascination with Asian art led them to develop close relationships more than $900 million to the institutions for facilities and research.
with curators in the field, particularly James C. Y. Watt (b. 1936), Among the many buildings named for them at those hospitals are
whom they met shortly after he became Curator of the Department the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Herbert Irving
of Asiatic Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1981-1985), and Pavilion, the Irving Cancer Research Center, the Irving Institute for
then grew closer to Watt once he joined the Department of Asian Clinical and Translational Research, the Irving Radiation Oncology
Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1985-2011). Mrs. Irving Center, the Irving Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, as well as other
became a Trustee of the Museum in 1990 and remained active buildings, faculty positions, and scholarships that bear their name.

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