Clark Art Institute
Graduate students in the Clark Art Institute library
When Jim Manton died in 2005 at age 96, two thirds of his estate was left to the Manton Foundation. His daughter, Diana Morton, had previously been named as a trustee not only to the Manton Foundation but also to the Manton Art Foundation, which owned her parents’ art collection. As sole trustee in this role, she held responsibility for identifying a permanent home for the collection and arranging for its transfer.
Her father had expressed a wish that the collection he had assembled privately and joyfully over 55 years be kept intact. It was a collection that, until his death, only Sir Edwin had seen in its entirety. In consultation with family friend and longtime Manton lawyer Terry Christensen, Diana weighed options and considered institutional possibilities, mindful of potential hazards. Could the recipient institution properly care for the collection? What was the probability that a museum receiving the collection would choose to deaccession works in the future?
Early in 2006, Hugh Morton, Williams College graduate (class of ’59), contacted former classmate and friend E.J. Johnson for advice on placing the collection at an institution—possibly one associated with Williams. A longtime faculty member of the Williams College Art Department, E.J. quickly brought the Mortons together with the Clark Art Institute’s director Michael Conforti. The Clark seemed a promising home for two reasons. One was that the early 19th-century British work contained in the Manton Collection would fill an existing gap in the Clark’s permanent collection. This had appeal, since the family wanted Sir Edwin’s art to be housed in a place where it added special value. A second facet of the Clark’s appeal was its research and academic program and close partnership with the art program of Williams College, which would open the collection to scholarly study.
Middle school group examining a Gainsborough painting from the collection
“I don’t think anyone at the Clark would question the fundamental transformative nature of the Manton gift and involvement.”
For decades, the Clark had operated as a sleepy Massachusetts gem, treasured by many and known by few. Built in the 1950s by Sterling and Francine Clark, who contributed their personal art collection and an endowment sufficient to cover annual maintenance of the facility and the collection. The decision to locate the Clark in Williamstown followed a series of conversations between the Clarks and leaders of Williams College. Collaborative planning to introduce a graduate art history program led to the development of the Clark’s art history research library–opened to the public in 1964–and the arrival of the first class of graduate students in 1972. The partnership between Williams College and the Clark continued this mode of operation for more than 30 years, quietly drawing academics and aficionados of the permanent collection from near and far.
Michael Conforti arrived at the Institute in 1994 with a big vision for the museum and its respected academic program—a vision that, once implemented, began raising the museum’s profile. It also stretched the limits of the existing Clark facility and endowment revenue to cover expanding operations. The prospect of a Manton Collection addition—and a related financial gift—surfaced as the institution was already changing. Conforti realized that a gift of this magnitude could make an enormous impact on an institution moving toward a higher-visibility international profile. Pete Willmott, board president of the Clark from 2005 to 2015, described the shift as “consequential and appropriate,” given the quality of its base [small-scale donors], the size of its endowment [modest] and its emerging needs [significant]. The opportunity to partner with the Manton Foundation held great appeal—the Foundation would become an agent of institutional transformation. The decade from donation to project completion brought opportunities and challenges in equal measure.
“The Manton Foundation, together with the J.P. Morgan staff, kept us on the straight and narrow. We made multiple presentations over the years; the trustees made suggestions. We were able to develop a really positive relationship.”
Along with the art collection, valued at that time at $40 million, the Manton Foundation committed a financial gift of $50 million, the dual purpose of which was to safeguard the collection and support the research facility, formally renamed the Manton Research Center in 2007 when the gifts were publicly announced. The combined $90 million gift was reportedly the largest gift made to an American museum in 2007. A grant agreement stating terms and conditions, along with a five-year payout schedule, was formulated by Terry Christensen.
Chief among the institution’s challenges was the imperative to build an infrastructure at the Clark that could sustain its expanding facilities and programs. Soon after the Foundation gift was approved, Sandy Niles joined the Clark’s board of trustees, as stipulated by the grant agreement. The historically local board had, into the 2000s, held a largely custodial role that included little or no fundraising responsibility. Over time, it has evolved into a governing body that brings a more diverse skillset, geography and spirit of inquiry to their oversight. Olivier Meslay, the Felda and Dena Hardymon Director of the Clark since 2016, believes the board of the Clark now demands voices and perspectives from the wider world. Today, board members who bring experience in finance, industry, education and other fields are beginning to offer that expanded view.
Lectures by Clark Fellows
Having already made a significant investment, the trustees recognized the need to continue nurturing and affirming successful steps made by the Clark to strengthen institutional infrastructure and capacity. Between approval of the initial $50 million grant and the grand reopening of the Manton Research Center in 2016, the Foundation made additional grants for program as well as operations.
“The Clark taps sense of place in three directions: scholarship, nature and the environment, and the collection.”
The celebrated reopening of the Manton Research Center on a cold November morning in 2016 was in truth ten years in the making and the culmination of extraordinary work on the part of both institutions. This decade of work gave the museum the time needed to “catch up” institutionally to the scale of the Manton gift and, in many ways, with its own ambitions. Manton trustee Sandy Niles is mindful of the Clark’s long-term sustainability independent of the Manton Foundation. That said, the fact that the Manton Collection is housed at the Clark forms an undeniable bond between these two institutions. Sandy sees a strong development and fundraising culture infusing the institution and its evolving board. The trick, she says, will be in striking a balance between the Foundation’s recent role as lead donor/catalyst and a future role that is still being navigated.
