The Art World Works From Home: Morgan Library Director Colin Bailey Is Watching ‘Frasier’ Reruns and Researching JP Morgan’s Collecting Habits

The art world may be on lockdown, but it certainly
does not stop. During this unprecedented time, we’re checking in
with art-world professionals, collectors, and artists to get a
glimpse into how they are working from home.

Like many museum leaders, Colin Bailey, director of
the Morgan Library in New York City, has been immersed in
continuous virtual meetings with his board, senior management, and
curators. He’s also been keeping himself busy researching
the early collecting habits of his museum’s namesake, JP
Morgan—including his extensive incunabula and rare manuscripts—for
an essay he’s writing.

We spoke with Bailey about his new work-from-home
lifestyle and what he does when starts to feel cabin fever
creeping in.

Where is your new “office”?

I am working in the upstairs study of our small
cottage in Sag Harbor, with a view of Noyack Creek from my
window.

What are you working on right now (and were
any projects of yours interrupted by the lockdown)?

My constant preoccupation is leading the Morgan at
this time of crisis, and formulating—with a very dedicated and able
senior management team—the path (or paths) forward. Our planning
changes almost every day, as we try and understand when and how we
will reopen. At the same time, we have pivoted very quickly toward
offering more and more programming online, and this has meant
creating new content in record time. I have been so admiring of the
creativity and nimbleness of our teams.

When I can, I have turned some of my attention to my
writing. I am preparing an essay on the early collecting of John
Pierpont Morgan, and specifically on how he came to assemble the
greatest collection of incunabula, printed books, illuminated
manuscripts, and literary and historical manuscripts in the
country. I have been studying him as a collector in the decade
leading up to the commission to Charles Follen McKim in 1902 to
build the beautiful library on 36th Street. We are in the process
of restoring the exterior facade and adding lighting and a small
garden to this site.

How has your work changed now that you are
doing it from home?

In some ways, there is continuity. I have a full
calendar of meetings, by Zoom and Google Hangouts; I touch base
with my board president and other trustees regularly. We maintain
the regular catchups with department heads, and have increased the
frequency of our curatorial and conservation forum. And, because
the Morgan is a relatively small institution, I’ve been able to get
together virtually with every department, and see how my colleagues
are doing. This has been very satisfying for me.

What are you reading, both online and
off?

I read Edith Wharton’s The Custom of the
Country, published in 1913 (the year of Morgan’s death).
Although it was a bestseller in its day—in 1913 it sold 60,000
copies—it was a complete revelation to me. (I’d read House of
Mirth and The Age of Innocence, but had not
encountered this novel). I am quite conflicted about its heroine,
Undine Spragg from Apex in the midwest, who takes New York (and
then Paris) by storm. She has formidable emotional intelligence,
but a ruthlessness that takes your breath away.

Have you visited any good virtual exhibitions
recently?

I loved the Morgan’s Alfred Jarry online
exhibition!

Have you taken up any new
hobbies?

Cooking—every night, night after night… (when will it
end?)

If you are feeling stuck while self-isolating,
what’s your best method for getting un-stuck?

Taking Louis, our mini-dachshund, into the garden and
throwing a tennis ball for him. He is never bored, always excited,
and always brings a smile to my face.

What was the last TV show, movie, or YouTube
video you watched?

Babylon Berlin, Unorthodox, Mrs.
America—and endless reruns of Frasier.

If you could have one famous work of art with
you, what would it be?

It would have to be small: Boucher’s Bath of
Diana (1742), from the Louvre (last seen at the wonderful
Renoir nudes show at the Clark and the Kimbell).

What are you most looking forward to doing
once social distancing has been lifted? 

Having dinner and drinks at a Manhattan restaurant
with friends.

The post The Art World Works From Home: Morgan Library
Director Colin Bailey Is Watching ‘Frasier’ Reruns and Researching
JP Morgan’s Collecting Habits appeared first on artnet
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