The Blue Diamond Collection @ The JAG

Christmas decorations on the Cartier building

The Cartier building on Madison Avenue in NYC is sometimes referred to as "the house a necklace bought." The story is told that in 1915 Louis Cartier made history with the first natural, double-stranded Oriental pearl necklace costing $1.2 million (more than $16 million today). This necklace was placed on exhibition all over the world including Paris, London, and New York City.

Maisie and her double strand pearl necklace

In the fall of 1916, the necklace’s appearance in New York reportedly caused a huge uproar with women from all over coming to admire them. Among these ladies was Mae “Maisie” Plant. At the time Cartier’s New York Salon was on the second floor of a small building in an inconspicuous part of town. Coincidently, Maisie had just placed her $1.2 million mansion up for sale. Knowing she wanted to sell her mansion anyway, Maisie approached Cartier and proposed a trade…the mansion for the pearl necklace. Surprisingly, Cartier accepted.

That's a pretty good story. The Blue Diamond collection at the Johannesburg Art Gallery has a similar story, albeit in reverse. This time a grand dame gave up a piece of jewelry in order to establish an art gallery.  

The Johannesburg Art Gallery was established in 1910 by Lady Florence Phillips who sold off a 21.5 carat blue diamond given to her by her mining magnate husband, Lionel, in order to buy the first three oil paintings by Philip Wilson Steer which became the foundation of an art collection for a new museum in downtown Johannesburg. The collection went on to include a wealth of Impressionist art, the sublime Miss Fairfax by Rodin and the wonderful Anton van Wouw sculptures which Florence convinced her husband to donate as well.

I was immensely fortunate to be led through this remarkable collection by curator Antoinette Murdoch along with other members of the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation.

Lady Florence Phillips was No Ordinary Woman, the title of her biography written in 1966 by Thelma Gutsche. Born in South Africa, Florence married diamond and gold mining magnate and British MP Sir Lionel Phillips. During her life, she was the driving force behind the restoration of Vergelegen and its gardens and the establishment of the best collection of Western Art in South Africa, The Johannesburg Art Gallery.

a portrait of Hugh Lane by John Singer Sargent

While living in London, she was introduced to Hugh Lane who was to become the curator and co-visionary for her new museum. Hugh Lane was a prominent Anglo-Irish art dealer who was the founder of the (now called) Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. Tragically, he died in 1915 aboard the Lusitania when it was torpedoed, only a few months before the JAG building was officially opened.

Her original idea was to establish a museum of old Masters of Western Art, the first one of its kind in Africa, but Hugh convinced her that this would be difficult if not impossible. All the Old Masters were either in museums in Europe or had been purchased already by wealthy Americans industrialists. Any that came up for auction quickly sold at astronomical prices. He advised her to concentrate instead on the modern art of the time with artists who were "up and coming." You know, Picasso, Pissarro, Monet, Sisley. It was a wise choice!

The first three acquisitions were these three paintings by British artist Philip Wilson Steer. They are A Chelsea Window, The Lime-Kiln Near Corfe Castle, and Corfe Castle, all three completed in 1909. They were originally purchased from the Goupil Gallery in London, and they and the rest of the core Foundation Collection purchased in Europe were exhibited at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London before being finally shipped to South Africa.

A wall of Impressionist art from the Foundation Collection. In the forefront is one of the Anton van Wouw sculptures, the only South African art included in the initial collection. The 1907 Bronze is called The Sleeping Man - Basuto.

Miss Fairfax by Rodin

The Johannesburg Art Gallery is a jewel and a godsend when I get a hankering for Western Art. Thank you Florence!