American Monotypes from the Baker/Pisano Collection | Page 6

Foreword

T

he works in American Monotypes from the Baker/Pisano
Collection and its catalogue, are drawn almost entirely
from the Baker/Pisano Collection. Assembled by D. Frederick
Baker and Ronald G. Pisano, the collection reflects their deep
interest in American art of the New York region at the turn of
the twentieth century and in particular the work of William
Merritt Chase, his students, and the artists in his circle. One
of the strengths of the Baker/Pisano Collection is its depth in
monotypes, which helps reveal Chase’s close association with the
rise of the monotype in America, and its flowering in the hands
of later American artists. The Chazen is the grateful recipient
of the gift of part of this monotype collection in 2014, and we
are indebted to the Heckscher Museum of Art for lending their
group of the Baker/Pisano monotypes for this, the first exhibition to feature this rich collection.
We are especially grateful to Fred Baker, not only for his generous gift of these twenty-one monotypes and related prints to the
museum, but also for his authorship of the scholarly and sensitive entries to this catalogue, which immeasurably enhances our
appreciation of the works in the exhibition. The catalogue could
not have been completed without the assiduous work of Christy
Wahl, whose commitment to the details of the artists and their
works was invaluable.

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This catalogue was underwritten by the Karen H. Bechtel
Foundation. We are grateful to the foundation for supporting it
as an electronic publication, designed to be as broadly accessible
as possible. To that end it will be hosted as an easily printable
file on the Chazen’s website. It is copyrighted under the Creative
Commons guidelines; interested students and scholars are free
to quote and link to the publication, as long as they always cite
the source of their information. Readers may also download and
print out this catalogue for personal use.
We are also grateful to The Heckscher’s Michael W. Schantz,
executive director, and William H. Titus, registrar, for their generous help lending works to the exhibition and providing images
for the catalogue.
Russell Panczenko,
Director, Chazen Museum of Art