Biographical Sketch
| Fiske
Kimball Biographical Sketch |
The first decade of Kimball's directorship was very
productive with
the
completion of the massive new Museum building, installation of works in
an art historical sequence to facilitate instruction, finishing of the
interior with authentic architectural "period rooms," and the cultivation
of
public funding sources. Kimball's notorious personality ("bullish,"
"brusque," "profane") in no way inhibited his success in cultivating
private
donors: he raised hundreds of thousands of dollars prior to the
Crash in late 1929, and even during the 1930s he received significant
monetary gifts.
During the mid 1930s Fiske was busy desiging and supervising
construction
of a home for himself and Marie on 100 wooded acres North of
Charlottesville.
Portrait
of
Fiske Kimball, ca. 1937, courtesy of the
Philadelphia Museum
of Art.
