Harry Bakwin (November 19, 1894 – December 25, 1973) was a New York

pediatrician Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

, and also a Professor of Pediatrics at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Biography

Born in 1894 to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, Bakwin graduated with a M.D. from

Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (VP&S) is the graduate medical school of Columbia University, located at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Founded i ...

in 1917. In 1925, Bakwin married

Ruth Morris Bakwin Ruth Morris Bakwin (1898 – July 31, 1985) was a noted pediatrician and child psychologist and the first woman intern at the Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City (now the New York Medical College). Bakwin and her husband, also a pediatrician, we ...

who was an heir to some of the fortunes made by the Chicago

meat-packing industry The meat-packing industry (also spelled meatpacking industry or meat packing industry) handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally no ...

as the daughter of Edward Morris, son of the founder of Morris & Company; and Helen Swift Morris, the daughter of

Gustavus Swift Gustavus Franklin Swift, Sr. (June 24, 1839 – March 29, 1903) was an American business executive. He founded a meat-packing empire in the Midwest during the late 19th century, over which he presided until his death. He is credited with t ...

, founder of

Swift & Company JBS USA Holdings, Inc. is an American food processing company and a wholly owned subsidiary of the multinational company JBS S.A. The subsidiary was created when JBS entered the U.S. market in 2007 with its purchase of Swift & Company. JBS speci ...

. Her sister was psychiatrist

Muriel Gardiner Muriel Gardiner Buttinger (née Morris; November 23, 1901 – February 6, 1985) was an American psychoanalyst and psychiatrist. Early life and career Gardiner was born on November 23, 1901 in Chicago, the daughter of Edward Morris, president of ...

who was married to the Austrian politician

Joseph Buttinger Joseph Buttinger (30 April 1906, Reichersbeuern, Germany – 4 March 1992, Queens, New York) was an Austrian politician and, after his immigration to the United States, an expert on East Asia. He co-founded the American Friends of Vietnam, a Cold ...

. He and his wife had four children: Edward Bakwin, Michael Bakwin, Barbara Bakwin Rosenthal, and Patricia Bakwin Selch.

Writing

As a pediatrician, Bakwin authored many articles relevant to children, often with his wife. The 1931 ''

Journal of Clinical Investigation The ''Journal of Clinical Investigation'' is a twice-monthly peer-reviewed medical journal covering biomedical research. It was established in 1924 and is published by the American Society for Clinical Investigation. Articles focus on the mechanism ...

'' paper "Body Build in Infants" compared the external dimensions of sick infants with dimensions in healthy children. Together with his wife, he wrote the widely regarded medical text, ''Clinical Management of Behavior Disorders in Children.'' Bakwin and his wife co-authored an early piece on the speech disorder

cluttering Cluttering is a speech and communication disorder characterized by a rapid rate of speech, erratic rhythm, and poor syntax or grammar, making speech difficult to understand. Classification Cluttering is a speech and communication disorder that ...

(also called tachyphemia) in 1952, years before cluttering was commonly discussed. Bakwin observed that clutterers could temporarily overcome their speech defect when they tried to do so.

The Bakwin Collection

Shortly after their marriage, Bakwin and his wife began procuring many famous paintings, known as the Bakwin Collection. Included in those paintings was Van Gogh's painting, ''

Madame Ginoux Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ...

'', a version which the artist gave to his brother Theo. The painting was held in the collection by son Edward M. Bakwin, until it was sold at auction on May 2, 2006 at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

, New York, for more than $40 million (USD). The Bakwins traveled to Europe every year with their four children, and bought art to display in their Manhattan town house.Parting With the Family van Gogh
/ref> The Bakwin Collection included works by

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inclu ...

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

, Cézanne,

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetism, Synthetist style that were d ...

, Modigliani, and

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakwin, Harry 1973 deaths American art collectors American pediatricians American Jews Physicians from New York City 1894 births Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons alumni Morris family (meatpacking)