Sam Wagstaff
Encyclopedia
Samuel Jones Wagstaff Jr. (4 November 1921 – 14 January 1987) was an American
art curator
and collector
as well as the artistic mentor and benefactor of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe
(who was also his lifetime companion) and poet
-punk rock
er Patti Smith
. Wagstaff is known in part for his support of Minimalism
, Pop Art
, Conceptual Art
and Earthworks, but his aesthetic acceptance and support of photography
presaged the acceptance of the medium as a fine art
.
, Wagstaff was the son of Samuel Jones Wagstaff Sr., a wealthy lawyer from an old New York
family, and his second wife, Polish
émigré
Olga May Piorkowska, a fashion illustrator who had worked for Harper's Bazaar
and was previously married to Arthur Paul Thomas.http://www.derbycityprints.com/1287-Olga%20Piorkowski%20Thomas%20Wagstaff%20Newhall-artist.htm He had one sibling, a sister, Judith (Mrs Thomas Lewis Jefferson). His parents divorced in 1932, and Wagstaff's mother, a daughter of Polish inventor and scientist Col. Arthur Emil Piorkowski, married Donald V. Newhall, an artist.
After growing up on Central Park South
, attending the Hotchkiss School
and graduating from Yale University
, and being a fixture on the debutante
circuit, Wagstaff joined the US Navy in 1941 as an ensign
, where he took part in the D-day
landing at Omaha Beach
in World War II
. He later worked in the field of advertising
in the 50s, which he hated. He returned to school to study Renaissance art at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts
, however, and turned his energies to the art world.
art history fellowship took him to the National Gallery of Art
in Washington, DC. He served as curator of contemporary art at the Wadsworth Atheneum
from 1961 to 1968, and then at the Detroit Institute of Arts
from 1968 to 1971. In addition to his curatorial work, Wagstaff was a noted collector, just like his father, who collected ephemera
. After a conflict with the Detroit Institute of Arts' board of trustees over an earthwork
by Michael Heizer
, which had destroyed the immaculate museum lawn, he moved back to New York.
After seeing the exhibition "The Painterly Photograph, 1890-1914" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
in 1973 and meeting Robert Mapplethorpe
in 1972, Wagstaff became convinced that photographs were the most unrecognized and, possibly, the most valuable works of art. He began selling his collection of paintings, using the proceeds to buy 19th-century American, British, and French photography. Then, influenced by Mapplethorpe, Wagstaff's taste veered toward the daring, and he began to depart from established names in search of new talent. His collection was soon recognized as one of the finest private holdings in the United States. In 1984 Wagstaff's photography holdings - comprising at least 2,500 masterworks - went to the J. Paul Getty Museum
, for a reported price said to be in the neighborhood of $5 million..
Saying he needed the challenge of building another collection, Sam Wagstaff turned to 19th-century American silver
. A show of more than 100 examples from his silver collection opened on March 20, 1987 at the New York Historical Society.
Between 1976 and 1986, Sam Wagstaff donated his personal papers to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
. In 2008, the bulk of these papers were digitized and made available online (see the Samuel J. Wagstaff Papers, 1932–1985).
in 1972 at a party. Mapplethorpe, whom Wagstaff called his shy pornographer, was also his guide to the gay
demimonde
of extreme sex and drugs that flourished in New York in the 1970s and 80s. In the 1980s, Wagstaff gave Mapplethorpe $500,000 to purchase the top-floor loft at 35 West 23rd Street, where the photographer lived and had his shooting space.
arising from AIDS
at his home in Manhattan
on January 14, 1987, two years before Mapplethorpe
.
by art dealer
Daniel Wolf.
In 2007, James Crump
directed the documentary
film Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival
. Because Mapplethorpe's story is already familiar to the public
, the movie devotes most of its time to Wagstaff, whose personal history is a classic case of repressed or closeted homosexuality
belatedly and furiously unleashed.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
art curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
and collector
Collecting
The hobby of collecting includes seeking, locating, acquiring, organizing, cataloging, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector. Some collectors are generalists, accumulating merchandise, or stamps from all countries of the world...
as well as the artistic mentor and benefactor of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men...
(who was also his lifetime companion) and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
-punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
er Patti Smith
Patti Smith
Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....
. Wagstaff is known in part for his support of Minimalism
Minimalism
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is set out to expose the essence, essentials or identity of a subject through eliminating all non-essential forms, features or concepts...
, Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
, Conceptual Art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
and Earthworks, but his aesthetic acceptance and support of photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
presaged the acceptance of the medium as a fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
.
Biography
Born on November 4, 1921, in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Wagstaff was the son of Samuel Jones Wagstaff Sr., a wealthy lawyer from an old New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
family, and his second wife, Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
émigré
Émigré
Émigré is a French term that literally refers to a person who has "migrated out", but often carries a connotation of politico-social self-exile....
Olga May Piorkowska, a fashion illustrator who had worked for Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
and was previously married to Arthur Paul Thomas.http://www.derbycityprints.com/1287-Olga%20Piorkowski%20Thomas%20Wagstaff%20Newhall-artist.htm He had one sibling, a sister, Judith (Mrs Thomas Lewis Jefferson). His parents divorced in 1932, and Wagstaff's mother, a daughter of Polish inventor and scientist Col. Arthur Emil Piorkowski, married Donald V. Newhall, an artist.
After growing up on Central Park South
Central Park South
Central Park South is the portion of 59th Street that forms the southern border of Central Park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It runs from Columbus Circle at Eighth Avenue on the west to Grand Army Plaza at Fifth Avenue on the east...
, attending the Hotchkiss School
Hotchkiss School
The Hotchkiss School is an independent, coeducational American college preparatory boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school enrolls students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates...
and graduating from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
, and being a fixture on the debutante
Debutante
A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...
circuit, Wagstaff joined the US Navy in 1941 as an ensign
Ensign
An ensign is a national flag when used at sea, in vexillology, or a distinguishing token, emblem, or badge, such as a symbol of office in heraldry...
, where he took part in the D-day
D-Day
D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
landing at Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach
Omaha Beach is the code name for one of the five sectors of the Allied invasion of German-occupied France in the Normandy landings on 6 June 1944, during World War II...
in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He later worked in the field of advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
in the 50s, which he hated. He returned to school to study Renaissance art at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts
New York University Institute of Fine Arts
The Institute of Fine Arts is one of the 14 divisions of New York University . It offers a Master of Arts and a Doctor of Philosophy, the Advanced Certificate in Conservation of Works of Art, and the Certificate in Curatorial Studies...
, however, and turned his energies to the art world.
Career
In 1959, a David E. FinleyDavid E. Finley, Jr.
David Edward Finley, Jr. was an American cultural leader during the middle third of the 20th century. He was the first director of the National Gallery of Art, the founding chairman of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, chairman of the United States Commission of Fine Arts, a prime...
art history fellowship took him to the National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
in Washington, DC. He served as curator of contemporary art at the Wadsworth Atheneum
Wadsworth Atheneum
The Wadsworth Atheneum is the oldest public art museum in the United States, with significant holdings of French and American Impressionist paintings, Hudson River School landscapes, modernist masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as extensive holdings in early American furniture and...
from 1961 to 1968, and then at the Detroit Institute of Arts
Detroit Institute of Arts
The Detroit Institute of Arts is a renowned art museum in the city of Detroit. In 2003, the DIA ranked as the second largest municipally owned museum in the United States, with an art collection valued at more than one billion dollars...
from 1968 to 1971. In addition to his curatorial work, Wagstaff was a noted collector, just like his father, who collected ephemera
Ephemera
Ephemera are transitory written and printed matter not intended to be retained or preserved. The word derives from the Greek, meaning things lasting no more than a day. Some collectible ephemera are advertising trade cards, airsickness bags, bookmarks, catalogues, greeting cards, letters,...
. After a conflict with the Detroit Institute of Arts' board of trustees over an earthwork
Land art
Land art, Earthworks , or Earth art is an art movement which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s, in which landscape and the work of art are inextricably linked...
by Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer
Michael Heizer is a contemporary artist specializing primarily in large-scale sculptures and earth art .Heizer was born in Berkeley, California in 1944; and he attended the San Francisco Art Institute. Traveling to New York City in 1966, he began his career producing more conventional, small-scale...
, which had destroyed the immaculate museum lawn, he moved back to New York.
After seeing the exhibition "The Painterly Photograph, 1890-1914" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in 1973 and meeting Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men...
in 1972, Wagstaff became convinced that photographs were the most unrecognized and, possibly, the most valuable works of art. He began selling his collection of paintings, using the proceeds to buy 19th-century American, British, and French photography. Then, influenced by Mapplethorpe, Wagstaff's taste veered toward the daring, and he began to depart from established names in search of new talent. His collection was soon recognized as one of the finest private holdings in the United States. In 1984 Wagstaff's photography holdings - comprising at least 2,500 masterworks - went to the J. Paul Getty Museum
Getty Center
The Getty Center, in Brentwood, Los Angeles, California, is a campus for cultural institutions founded by oilman J. Paul Getty. The $1.3 billion center, which opened on December 16, 1997, is also well known for its architecture, gardens, and views overlooking Los Angeles...
, for a reported price said to be in the neighborhood of $5 million..
Saying he needed the challenge of building another collection, Sam Wagstaff turned to 19th-century American silver
Silver (household)
Household silver or silverware includes dishware, cutlery and other household items made of sterling, Britannia or Sheffield plate silver. The term is often extended to items made of stainless steel...
. A show of more than 100 examples from his silver collection opened on March 20, 1987 at the New York Historical Society.
Between 1976 and 1986, Sam Wagstaff donated his personal papers to the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
. In 2008, the bulk of these papers were digitized and made available online (see the Samuel J. Wagstaff Papers, 1932–1985).
Personal life
Sam Wagstaff met his lifetime companion and protégé, photographer Robert MapplethorpeRobert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men...
in 1972 at a party. Mapplethorpe, whom Wagstaff called his shy pornographer, was also his guide to the gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
demimonde
Demimonde
Demi-monde refers to a group of people who live hedonistic lifestyles, usually in a flagrant and conspicuous manner. The term was commonly used in Europe from the late 18th to the early 20th century, and modern use often refers to that period...
of extreme sex and drugs that flourished in New York in the 1970s and 80s. In the 1980s, Wagstaff gave Mapplethorpe $500,000 to purchase the top-floor loft at 35 West 23rd Street, where the photographer lived and had his shooting space.
Death
Wagstaff died of pneumoniaPneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
arising from AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
at his home in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
on January 14, 1987, two years before Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men...
.
Posthumously
A fund in Sam Wagstaff's name for the purchase of photographs has been started in 1987 at the Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
by art dealer
Art dealer
An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art. Art dealers' professional associations serve to set high standards for accreditation or membership and to support art exhibitions and shows.-Role:...
Daniel Wolf.
In 2007, James Crump
James Crump
James Crump is a curator and writer. He is the author or co-author of numerous books and has published widely in the fields of contemporary art and history of photography.Crump is known internationally for his work with contemporary artists and photographers...
directed the documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
film Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe, which premiered at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
. Because Mapplethorpe's story is already familiar to the public
Public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individuals, and the public is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the Öffentlichkeit or public sphere. The concept of a public has also been defined in political science,...
, the movie devotes most of its time to Wagstaff, whose personal history is a classic case of repressed or closeted homosexuality
Closeted
Closeted and in the closet are metaphors used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior.-Background:In late 20th...
belatedly and furiously unleashed.