Rockefeller gives $2.5M to RISD Museum to support decorative arts, design

A PROMISED gift of artwork from David Rockefeller's estate includes an eighth-century, Tang dynasty figure of a standing court lady that was displayed in his office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The artwork will soon be displayed at the RISD Museum, as part of a $2.5 million gift Rockefeller pledged to the museum to support decorative arts and design. / COURTESY DAVID ROCKEFELLER COLLECTION
A PROMISED gift of artwork from David Rockefeller's estate includes an eighth-century, Tang dynasty figure of a standing court lady that was displayed in his office at 30 Rockefeller Plaza. The artwork will soon be displayed at the RISD Museum, as part of a $2.5 million gift Rockefeller pledged to the museum to support decorative arts and design. / COURTESY DAVID ROCKEFELLER COLLECTION

PROVIDENCE – Banker and philanthropist David Rockefeller has given a $2.5 million gift to the Rhode Island School of Design Museum.
The gift includes $2 million to establish an endowment of a curator’s post, the David and Peggy Rockefeller Curator of Decorative Arts and Design, and $500,000 to underwrite a gallery, David and Peggy Rockefeller Gallery, within the museum’s suite of European art galleries, the museum said in a press release.
Also promised is a gift of decorative artwork from the Rockefeller estate.
The RISD Museum’s decorative arts and design collection is among the most heavily used by faculty and students at RISD, Brown University and other nearby colleges. An interpretative approach to the collection encourages research.
The gallery, to be located on the museum’s floor devoted to European art, will allow visitors to more fully appreciate the development of European art and craftsmanship from medieval times to the late 19th century. The funding makes possible the renovation of an existing 400-square-foot corner gallery in the RISD Museum’s Radeke building, in preparation of future installation of Rockefeller’s promised gifts of 43 works, including rare furniture and decorative arts from England.
The museum also will highlight the Rockefeller family’s connoisseurship and passion for collecting.
John W. Smith, director of the RISD Museum, said the gift continues the family’s legacy to the museum.
“This legacy of support, beginning with significant gifts of art from his mother and aunt – both born and raised in Providence – builds upon the rich and compelling narrative of the Rockefeller family’s critical role in developing the museum’s permanent collection,” he said.
Rockefeller, 99, said he and his family are excited about the contribution they are making and how it will complement the museum’s innovative educational programming.
“Both sides of my family – Aldriches as well as Rockefellers – have had a long and happy relationship with the RISD Museum,” he said. “My mother even took a few courses there in the late 19th century, before she married my father. When my late wife, Peggy, and I discussed the idea of creating a room to reflect our collecting interests, we thought immediately of RISD. I am very pleased this gift will provide the museum with a new gallery.”
Elizabeth A. Williams, who joined the RISD Museum in January 2013 as curator of decorative arts and design, is the first curator to hold the new curator’s title, as of January 2015. As the museum’s third endowed curatorial position, the post has been established months after a 2014 endowment for the Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, a position chief curator Jan Howard holds.

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