Page 34 - Christies Japanese and Korean Art Sept 22 2020 NYC

The Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection represents a The Mayers made their first mutual purchase in 1949, when Bob sought
remarkable moment in the history of twentieth-century art. Acquired with out the painter, Diego Rivera, in Mexico. The couple was told with little
unstinting zeal across a quarter century, the Collection is renowned not only explanation that the artist was painting “in a tree somewhere in San Miguel”.
for its quality and breadth (encompassing important Impressionist paintings, They eventually discovered Rivera, as described, sitting in a tree. “He let
Chinese ceramics and Asian art, alongside postwar and contemporary down a ladder so we could climb up,” Mr. Mayer said. “We found him
masterpieces), but also for the mastery with which it was realized—a working on a watercolor of a little boy”. Having just celebrated the birth
pioneering pursuit of the new that positioned Bob Mayer and his wife, Buddy of their son Rob, the Mayers asked to buy that picture, and to commission
Mayer, as watershed figures in the evolution of Contemporary art. “I collect a similar portrait of a girl in the hope that they would also have a daughter.
because I believe that I am building for posterity….” Bob declared. “I collect Ruth was born three years later, and the Rivera watercolors assumed even
because I believe it adds dimension and perspective to my way of life…. I greater poignancy for the family.
collect for the thrill of discovery”.
By the late 1950s, Bob and Buddy Mayer had assembled an outstanding
Born in Chicago in 1910, Bob was an energetic, larger-than-life figure selection of European painting and sculpture, Chinese ceramics, and African
whose very personality seemed well-suited for the bold experimentations and Oceanic figures. Yet, as Buddy later noted, “By the early 1960s,
and fearlessness of twentieth-century American art. After graduating from Impressionism had outpaced our pocketbooks.” As a result, the couple began
the University of Chicago in 1931, Bob embarked on a five-month cruise exploring more contemporary art movements and looking toward the work
around the world, where he visited more than twenty-five countries and of artists of the present day. “The art world today is changing,” Bob wrote in
made his first art acquisition: a pair of quartz and jadeite panels, found in his journal at the time, “and I have come to the realization that our interest
Beijing, depicting butterflies and blossoming trees. Upon returning to the can no longer be mostly confined to French artists”.
United States, Bob began working at his uncle Maurice Rothschild’s Chicago
clothing store, where he was tasked with sweeping the floors. Ambitious and After retiring from Maurice L. Rothschild & Co. in 1961, Bob devoted
with a natural gift for sales, he was soon appointed to the men’s haberdashery himself wholeheartedly to collecting and connoisseurship. At the time, he and
department. In the years that followed, Bob swiftly rose through the ranks his wife’s approach to collecting—focusing on the newest works and artistic
of Maurice L. Rothschild & Co., and was eventually named president of the movements—was a truly novel one, and allowed the couple to fill their home
firm in 1957. with pieces that, decades on, achieved masterpiece status. “I collect many new
young artists, particularly Americans,” Bob noted, “because I feel that they
Buddy was the daughter of the pioneering food entrepreneur Nathan deserve early recognition, and because I feel this country is foremost in the
Cummings, who transformed a small bankrupt grocery firm into the highly contemporary world of art today….”.
successful Consolidated Foods Corporation—later known as the Sara Lee
Corporation. Educated in chemistry at the University of North Carolina at In 1964, Bob, alongside prominent local collectors including Joseph Randall
Chapel Hill, Buddy was a practical, straightforward woman with a sharp wit Shapiro and Edwin Bergman, met to consider how to better present
and a dedication to family. During the Second World War, she volunteered Contemporary art in the city. Three years later, the fledgling Museum of
with the Red Cross Home Service Program and tended to the families of Contemporary Art Chicago (MCA) opened, housed in a single-story space
service members in some of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. “I told them, formerly occupied by a bakery and the photography studios of Playboy
‘I didn’t come here to roll bandages,’” Mrs. Mayer recalled, “‘I want to work magazine. As a founding trustee and treasurer of the board, Bob was
with people in need.’” Throughout her life, Buddy’s spirited drive would instrumental to the success of the MCA in its formative years. Among the
earn her a reputation as a woman committed to empowerment, and became museum’s inaugural exhibitions were artists greatly respected by the Mayers,
a lifelong proponent for equal opportunity. including Oldenburg and Dan Flavin, whose 1967 show Pink and Gold was
the artist’s first solo museum exhibition. In 1968, the depth and breadth of
the Mayers’ private collection was given a spectacular public debut, when
the MCA presented Selections from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Robert
B. Mayer. The eighty works on loan—including major pieces by Dubuffet,
Rosenquist and Thiebaud, and others—represented “an embarrassment of
riches,” in the words of MCA Director Jan van de Marck.
The Robert B. and Beatrice C. Mayer Family Collection is a monumental
achievement in American collecting. With true integrity of purpose, Bob
and Buddy created a lasting legacy in fine art: in their patronage of emerging
artists, they helped secure the success of some of the twentieth century’s
most important figures; in seeking to share their collection with others, they
inspired successive generations to think, act, and give with creativity and
resolve. “It is nourishment to my soul to feel that perhaps I can make a small
contribution to society for all that society has done for me,” Bob explained
in 1965. “If I am successful in putting together a group of paintings and
sculpture for my family, friends, the public, and future generations to see and
enjoy, then I have added meaning to my own life”. It was a philosophy that
the Mayers shared with the many artists and creative minds that informed
their lives—a commitment to creation and enduring beauty, and a legacy for
generations to come.
Buddy and Bob Mayer in their home, Chicago, 1963.
Photographer unknown. Courtesy of Beatrice
Cummings Mayer Archives, Chicago. Artwork: © 2019
Estate of James Rosenquist / Licensed by VAGA at
Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York; © 2019 Artists
Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.