 Purchase, NY - President George W. Bush announced that Roy R. Neuberger, 104, one of America’s foremost art patrons and philanthropists, and founder of the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, has won the 2007 National Medal of Arts.
The President will present the award on Thursday, November 15, 2007 in an East Room ceremony. The President will be joined by First Lady Laura Bush, Mrs. Lynne Cheney, Dana Gioia, Chairperson, National Endowment for the Arts, and Dr. Bruce Cole, Chairperson, National Endowment for the Humanities.
“The award is the long overdue national recognition and celebration of Neuberger Museum of Art’s founding patron, Roy R. Neuberger, one of America’s greatest collectors and philanthropists,” said Thom Collins, Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art. “All of us at the Museum, the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, and Purchase College are gratified and thrilled. We invite the public to enjoy the fruits of Mr. Neuberger’s extraordinary collecting which are on permanent view at the Museum in the exhibition Reframing American Art: Selections from the Roy R. Neuberger Collection.”
For over half a century, Mr. Neuberger has supported emerging artists, encouraged a trend of corporate collecting, and donated important works to and financially supported dozens of art institutions. In 1969 at the request of Governor Nelson Rockefeller, he donated a significant portion of his collection – more than 900 works of mid-20th century American art -- to New York State to establish the Neuberger Museum of Art. Today, the Museum houses over 6,000 works of modern, contemporary, and African art.
“The timing of this award is particularly meaningful,” said Thomas Schwarz, President of Purchase College, “as this is the fortieth anniversary of the founding of Purchase College by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. We join the rest of the nation in applauding Mr. Neuberger for his great gift of art to the American public. Designed by Philip Johnson, the Neuberger Museum of Art was the first building constructed on this campus. We are honored and proud to have this magnificent collection for everyone to enjoy.”
Starting in the mid forties, Roy Neuberger donated thousands of paintings to museums and colleges across the country, including: the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art. To provide support for the Neuberger Museum of Art, Mr. Neuberger founded the Friends of the NMA in 1972, which now raises more than 60% of the Museum’s annual expenses. He continues to make substantial contributions. He said, “I started giving away art because I felt strongly that I was only borrowing it.”
Mr. Neuberger also has been a tireless advocate of the visual arts. He devoted many years to the American Federation of Arts (AFA), where his leadership has been central to its success. He also served as a Whitney Museum Trustee (1961-1968) and was named Trustee Emeritus in 1969. He was elected an Honorary Trustee for Life at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1968. He acted as Chairman of the Board of the Purchase College Foundation (1974-1985), continuing as an Honorary Trustee. He was elected a Benjamin Franklin Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts in London (1969), a Fellow in Perpetuity of the National Academy of Design (1971), and a Fellow of the Rhode Island School of Design (1981).
A successful financier – Roy Neuberger founded Neuberger Berman, an investment advisory firm in 1939 with Robert Berman – Mr. Neuberger made enough money early in his career to finance his great passion, art. “In the beginning, I collected art for a purpose – to help support living artists. Now I am simply a lover of art,” Mr. Neuberger once commented.
Philippe de Montebello, Director of the Met, summarized his impact: “Few living persons have served the Met—indeed the entire world of art and art museums—longer, or with more distinction than Roy Neuberger. A man of taste, passion, persistence, and generosity, he has shared much of his private collection with the public, and for generations has supported activities that bring people to museums, and motivate them to return again and again.”
Other recipients of the 2007 National Medal of Art are:
Morten Lauridsen, composer - Los Angeles, California
N. Scott Momaday, author - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
R. Craig Noel, director - San Diego, California
Roy R. Neuberger, arts patron - New York, New York
Les Paul, guitar pioneer - New York, New York
Henry Steinway, arts patron - New York, New York
George Tooker, painter - Hartsville, Vermont
University of Idaho Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival - Moscow, Idaho
Andrew Wyeth, painter -Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Erich Kunzel, conductor (2006 Recipient) - Naples, Florida
The Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, engages and inspires diverse audiences by actively fostering the study, appreciation, understanding and enjoyment of modern art, African art, and the art of our time. The Museum is located at 735 Anderson Hill Road in Purchase, New York (Westchester). 914-251-6100
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