Muskegon Art museum celebrates 100 years of existence Building of art museum was unprecedented for small town

By Susan Harrison Wolffis The Muskegon Chronicle MUSKEGON, Mich. (AP) -- Its opening made news a century ago, reported around the world. When the Hackley Art Gallery -- now known as the Muskegon Museum of Art -- was dedicated on June 21, 1912, its very existence made headlines. And not just in the city where it was built. Newspapers in New York City, Boston, Chicago and even London also thought it newsworthy. What kind of town must Muskegon be -- small certainly by New York and London standards -- to have an art museum of its own? "This was the first building built expressly for art in a town of 30,000 or less in the United States," says Judith A. Hayner, executive director of the Muskegon Museum of Art. "When you think about it, that's pretty remarkable." To show just how remarkable it continues to be, the Muskegon Museum of Art, 296 W. Webster, will celebrate -- and "honor," to use Hayner's word -- its centennial year for the next 13 months. There is so much to celebrate that the art museum is getting an early start in 2011, opening a new exhibition that features artwork from the permanent collection. Everything was removed from the walls for the show -- even the iconic "Tornado Over Kansas" by John Steuart Curry, arguably the museum's most famous piece of art -- and repositioned in new locations throughout the building. Many will be placed on a 40-foot-long curved wall built just for the occasion and installed in the spacious Walker Gallery. "It's just going to blow you away," says E. Jane Connell, the senior curator at the art museum. "It's that beautiful." The centennial show, called "Pictures of the Best Kind," is a powerful -- and factual -- reminder of just how the art museum got its start, Hayner says. One of her goals this year is to dispel the "mythology" that Charles Hackley, Muskegon's most famous philanthropist, built the art museum. "I think through the decades, the story got shorthanded to Charles Hackley built the museum," Hayner says. The truth is, in his 1905 will, Hackley left an expendable trust fund of $150,000 to the Muskegon Public Schools board of education to buy "pictures of the best kind." His plan was to house the pictures in Hackley Public Library. But board of education members soon realized that the space was "insufficient" in the library for art, and it was the board that decided to build the art museum -- even though such a decision was unprecedented for such a small town. "The board of education could have bought art and been done with it," Hayner says. She calls the decision nothing less than "visionary." "They were connected to community and education at the grandest scale," Hayner says. "The gift of inspiration is no small matter." Had Hackley lived, he might have proposed just such a plan himself. Before his death, Hackley had consulted with artists in Chicago, asking them for a single piece of advice: How much money would be needed to collect "pictures of the best kind?" His consultants advised $150,000 -- the exact amount he bequeathed in his will for the Hackley Picture Fund. The board of education borrowed $40,000 from the fund, all of which was paid back, to build a building that was a piece of art itself. With its Neo-Greco Roman style architecture, the Hackley Art Gallery struck a visual contrast to its next-door neighbor, Hackley Public Library, 316 W. Webster, built in 1890. Even after its dedication, the art museum continued to be news. Its second director, Lulu Miller, was only the second woman in the U.S. to be appointed as an art museum director. But all that was secondary to the business of collecting art -- "pictures of the best kind," if you will. "Get used to hearing that phrase this year," Hayner says. Early on, the art museum was said to have one of this country's "premier" collections for a city this size. Just how remarkable is the permanent collection? Some of the most recognized names in art are represented in the 6,000 works of art the museum owns: Andrew Wyeth; James Whistler, who later painted a pretty well-known portrait of his mother; Winslow Homer; Edgar Degas; Frederic Remington; James Steuart Curry; and Edward Hopper. There's a Picasso print in the permanent collection -- and four paintings done by Picasso's mistress, Francoise Gilot. The exact value of the collection is never revealed due to security reasons, Hayner said. The value of art can be a controversial issue, as the museum's first director, Raymond Wyer, can attest. In 1916, Wyer -- considered a man of "unique insight" by today's staff -- angered some of the board of education members when he purchased a painting by James M. Whistler, "Study in Rose and Brown," for $6,750. The furor over the purchase caused Wyer to resign. Today "Study in Rose and Brown" is one of the "true treasures" in the collection, Hayner said. Because art can never be separated from history or philanthropy at the Muskegon Museum of Art, especially during its centennial celebration, there are lessons to learn from every era. Hayner said she is especially inspired by Frank Almy, the museum's third director, who took over the reins during the Great Depression. Under his leadership, Almy purchased three of the most valuable paintings in the permanent collection -- Hopper's "New York Restaurant," Curry's "Tornado Over Kansas and Joos Van Cleve's "St. Jerome in Penitence," painted in 1516. The art museum will take a long look at the Depression years in 2012 when it hosts at traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Feb. 16 through May 6. Called "1934: A New Deal for Artists," it features work from the Public Works of Art Project. Muskegon is the show's only stop in Michigan. "We can learn so much from this," Hayner said. "Even in tough times, and we're in them now, we can still produce art." Hackley wasn't the only philanthropist in Muskegon to value art. L.C. and Margaret Walker supported the art museum, starting in 1940, building up its graphics collection. In 1979, ground was broken for a $1.6 million addition to the Hackley Art Gallery. In 1980, when construction was completed, the building's name was changed to the Muskegon Museum of Art, with the Hackley Galleries and Walker Galleries. The addition proves another of Hayner's important messages. "Everything we have here came to us as a gift," she says. The permanent collection. The building. Everything, she says. "Look around. This is visible proof of philanthropy," Hayner says. "Throughout the entire 100 years, the philanthropy and the generosity of this scrappy little town is truly humbling." As it did when it opened, the art museum once again is making news in a new century. Earlier this fall, the Muskegon Museum of Art and the Muskegon Public Schools board of education agreed to transfer the museum to its independent foundation board by June 30, 2014. "I think it's a necessary thing," Hayner told The Chronicle at the time of the agreement. "The stewardship of the school district has been remarkable over the last century, and I give them full credit for what we are. But I fully recognize that is not a feasible model for the next 100 years. It's not about us. It's about the state of public schools and the challenges they face." And the vision established a century ago. "I am humbled by the history of the museum," Hayner says. "It's been 100 years ... a hundred years." She pauses to let the effect of a century sink in. "We're going to focus and shine the light on what we have here, and remind people just how remarkable this place is," she says. Published: Thu, Dec 29, 2011