Larry Aldrich (June 13, 1906 – October 26, 2001) was an American fashion designer, art collector, and founder of the
Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum
The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum is located in Ridgefield, Connecticut
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the 300-year-old community had a population o ...
in
Ridgefield, Connecticut
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York ...
.
Life
Aldrich began working in the fashion trade in 1924. He began producing garments under his own label in the 1940s. He was president of the New York Couture Group.
He began collecting art in 1937, though initially it was just a circumstantial act and not from any great interest. He was married in 1940 and he and his wife bought a weekend home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. His wife had an interest in painting and, concerned about her boredom during the week while he was in New York, he began bringing home literature about art, which he himself began to read. When
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
ended, air travel to Paris resumed. Aldrich had already concluded he would like to acquire some art and in 1947, he and his wife flew to Paris with the intention of buying an
Utrillo.
["Oral history interview with Larry Aldrich, 1972 Apr. 25-June 10"](_blank)
Archives of American Art
The Archives of American Art is the largest collection of primary resources documenting the history of the visual arts in the United States. More than 20 million items of original material are housed in the Archives' research centers in Washingt ...
. Retrieved November 4, 2011
His collection grew to be substantial. On his way out to buy cigarettes one day in Ridgefield, Connecticut he spied a building for sale on Main Street. Seeing that it had high ceilings, he thought it would work well as a place to house his extensive art collection. After investing a substantial sum to renovate, he turned it into a museum, initially called the "Old Hundred", after the name of the building. He soon changed it, however, because the name did not indicate the contemporary character of the contents.
He founded the Larry Aldrich Museum in 1964. The Museum previously awarded an annual Larry Aldrich Award, honoring contemporary visual artists who had made an impact on contemporary art world in the previous three years.
His fashion house designed the volunteer docent uniforms for the City Art Museum of St. Louis in 1968.
See also
*
Dorothy Mayhall
*
Jacqueline Moss
Jacqueline Moss (1927–2005) was an American art historian, lecturer, writer and art critic. She was the curator of education at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art (since renamed) and lectured widely on modern and 20th-century art. Her arti ...
References
External links
"Mission & History" ''The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum''
Larry Aldrich papers, 1957-1964
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, is located in Manhattan, New York City, at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side, between the Metro ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aldrich, Larry
1906 births
2001 deaths
American art collectors
People from Manhattan
American fashion designers
Museum founders
People from Ridgefield, Connecticut