Schneider Museum of Art
Northwest Coast Native American
Drum by Robert Davidson
Inuit sculpture in serpentine stone
Objects of Desire
The Crowell Collection
". . . Collectors are basically of two kinds; those who aim at completing a series built around a specific subject, and those who long to possess things that have bewitched them. The latter may suffer ups and downs, changes of heart and deceptions, but they have several advantages. They never know when some new love will inflame them; they learn a good deal about themselves from their possessions, and in the end they are surrounded by old friends."
Sir Kenneth Clark
Another Part of the Wood
In terms of style, the Crowell Collection is both eclectic and pluralistic. Its genius is part enthusiasm, part of aesthetic responses to a wide variety of stimuli, and partly willingness to expend both energy and monetary resources to pursue a multitude of directions.
There is no intent on their part to focus solely on masterpieces. They have acquired a repertory of appealing works in a number of directions, which have taken them from contemporary sculpture by artists working in tribal traditions as well as others, like William Morris who has greatly expanded the horizons of images realized in glass.
There are moments where the two directions intersect; that is partially due to Morris' attraction to shamanistic and ceremonial antecedents in tribal cultures from around the world-as well as to the Crowell's obvious interest in images of faith and cultural identity. Of note is their interest in the principle of historic distillation which plays a significant role in almost everything they have collected.
In a 1981 essay by Joshua Taylor, then Director of the National Museum of American Art, on the subject of collecting he touches on the issue of quality as follows, "quality comes in many guises and is continuously to be rediscovered, not defined. To pass up the thrill of discovery afforded by the diversity of art, particularly in that which is new and unfamiliar is to deny life to that which exists only by being a living part of the human experience. It is better to be historically wrong than emotionally crippled. History can change.
Quality in art belongs to people not to a system of history, and responds to individual human sensibility. But the education of that sensibility is not a simple process. The curriculum is founded on modesty, alertness, and a sense of discovery; its success depends on a willingness to know more and more about an ever growing body of experience without losing contact with the intellectual obligation to judge for oneself. . . Ultimately then, the judgment in art is individual but based on a broad diversity of experience."
The Crowell's, Ron and Susan, have willingly and joyfully pursued their objects of desire while constantly expanding their experiential horizons. Their collection demonstrates broad areas of interest, and the courage to disregard formulaic solutions in the choices they have made.
Josine Ianco Starrels, Curator
The Crowell Collection Page 2
The Crowell Collection Page 3