The Met has never put a priority on cutting-edge art, whereas Gund has long been dedicated to living artists. Lowry points to her role in MoMA’s merger with P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center. “I think there’s no question her legacy is already defined by her deep and passionate commitment to living artists,” he says. “She believes in artists; she’s willing to take risks.”
Gund’s loyalty is such that she avoids selling work by living artists. “I just don’t feel right about it,” she says. (One exception was an artist who, a curator assured her, wouldn’t mind.) When she does sell, it’s not to reap great profits or even to buy other works, but only to make charitable donations. It’s also worth noting that in this age of philanthropy as personal monument, Gund is not all about seeing her name in bronze. At MoMA she used her naming rights to a gallery to honor Varnedoe, who died of cancer in 2003. (David Rockefeller insisted on naming the garden lobby after Gund.) “I really did feel I had to give a lot to MoMA, even though many of the trustees have a lot more money than I do,” Gund says, a note of irritation in her voice. “There’s only one other person I would say I’m like on the board of MoMA, and that’s Lewis Cullman. Now, Lewis has more money than I do, but not a lot more, and he gives a lot of it away, but proportionally he gives more of his money, like proportionally I give more of mine, than, say—I won’t name them but any of them you know, and that excludes David Rockefeller, who’s been extraordinarily generous.”
Gund is strong, but she’s no bully. Even at MoMA she relies more on diplomacy than on the power of the purse strings. A year or two ago she asked Ann Temkin, whom she is quick to call a “great curator” (and who is now chief curator of painting and sculpture), why there was no Bourgeois or Joan Mitchell on view. “It is kind of awful,” Gund says. “I mean, the museum has a reputation, as do many museums, for only having male art,” and while in some periods the omission may be justified, “now that’s just not true.” Pieces from both artists went up in short order. Another situation wasn’t so quickly remedied. When the new MoMA opened, Gund loaned about 10 works, all promised gifts, for a show highlighting the museum’s collection. “The [Hans] Hofmann they hung in a terrible way, where I thought it really diminished it,” she recalls. “They said they were taking that arrangement down, but it was up there for about a year and a half.”
