Vincent Melzac (January 7, 1914 – October 11, 1989) was an American business executive and art collector, best known as one of the earliest and most daring collectors of paintings of the

Washington Color School The Washington Color School, also known as the Washington, D.C., Color School, was an art movement starting during the 1950s–1970s in Washington, D.C., in the United States, built of abstract expressionist artists. The movement emerged during ...

. Born in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Melzac grew up in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, where he attended

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a private research university in Cleveland, Ohio. Case Western Reserve was established in 1967, when Western Reserve University, founded in 1826 and named for its location in the Connecticut Western Reser ...

, earning an earning a master's degree in education. He continued his studies with a doctorate in education at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Melzac went to Washington in the early 1940s to work for the Office of Emergency Planning. Often described as a larger than life figure, Melzac was briefly chief executive officer of the

Corcoran Gallery of Art The Corcoran Gallery of Art was an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, that is now the location of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, a part of the George Washington University. Overview The Corcoran School of the Arts & Design ...

. Between 1969 and 1980, he donated 46 works to the

Smithsonian American Art Museum The Smithsonian American Art Museum (commonly known as SAAM, and formerly the National Museum of American Art) is a museum in Washington, D.C., part of the Smithsonian Institution. Together with its branch museum, the Renwick Gallery, SAAM holds o ...

, including works by Color field painters Morris Louis,

Kenneth Noland Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s he was though ...

, Alma Thomas, and

Thomas Downing Thomas Downing may be: * Thomas Downing (restaurateur) (1791–1866), American abolitionist and restaurateur * Thomas Downing (athlete) (1883–1943), Irish middle distance runner *Thomas Downing (painter) (1928–1985), American painter *Thomas N. ...

as well as

abstract expressionist Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

s Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and Clyfford Still. Significant parts of his collection were also donated to the Phillips Collection, the Hirshhorn Museum, the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

, and the

Fort Wayne Museum of Art The Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) is an American art museum located in downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, Allen County, United States. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art contains permanent collections and national traveling exhibitions and is accredite ...

, which had commissioned him in 1977 to conduct a planning study that ultimately led to the construction of a new museum building. By training an educator, Melzac was short of stature, but not boldness, a characteristic reflected both in his business affairs and his art collection. His fortune came from a chain of beauty salons, and he owned a catfish farm in West Virginia. He had a reputation for demanding a hard bargain from painters, and it was rumored that his businesses were under investigation for false advertising.Roy Slade (2008) "Fisticuffs"
Roy Slade's Artworld
/ref> In 1971, Melzac was called on to reorganize the Corcoran. Serving concurrently with director Gene Baro in an awkward administrative structure, he reduced the gallery's deficit from more than $535,000 to about $100,000 in two years.
The Washington Post, October 13, 1989 On November 3, 1972, at a black tie reception celebrating the opening of a major Sam Francis exhibition, Melzac and Baro came to blows. As recalled by Roy Slade (who succeeded Baro as Corcoran director), Unfortunately for Melzac, a photograph of Baro's blood-streaming face was published in the New York Times and in Newsweek. Slade recounted, "The photograph of the bloody director was stark evidence that not all was well at the Corcoran." Both Melzac and Baro were dismissed by the Corcoran's board on November 30, 1972. Melzac later became known as a breeder of Arabian race horses. He made a donation of seven horses to the people of Ireland in 1989 but when they arrived at the Irish National Stud they were considered "quite inferior" and not of breeding quality. Paintings from his art collection were for a time loaned to the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

, and he received the CIA's

Agency Seal Medallion The Agency Seal Medal (formerly Medallion) is awarded by the Central Intelligence Agency to non-Agency personnel, including U.S. Government employees and private citizens, who have made significant contributions to the Agency's intelligence effort ...

from Director William Casey in 1982. He died October 11, 1989, in Washington, D.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melzac, Vincent American arts administrators American art collectors 1914 births 1989 deaths Recipients of the Agency Seal Medal Case Western Reserve University alumni Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Polish emigrants to the United States