Nelson A. Rockefeller The Museum of Primitive Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art 82 The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s holdings of the artistic traditions of sub-Saharan Africa, the Pacific Islands, and the Americas are today regarded as canonical. They constitute such an integral part of the institution that few realize their inclusion is the result of the vision and sustained efforts of a uniquely influential figure in both American political life and the New York art scene: Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979). This fall the Metropolitan Museum of Art celebrates that legacy with The Nelson A. Rockefeller Vision: In Pursuit of “the Best” in the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas that will be on view from October 7, 2013, through October 5, 2014. The following short articles by the museum’s curators of the arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas discuss different facets of Rockefeller’s influence and legacy. ART on view FIG. 1: Exterior of Museum of Primitive Art, c. 1970. AR.1999.17.98. The Museum of Primitive Art Records, Visual Resource Archive, Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. FIG. 2: Nelson A. Rockefeller at the Metropolitan Museum of Art May 1969 press conference about the donation of the Museum of Primitive Art collections to the Metropolitan. Photograph by Michael Fredericks. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Nelson A. Rockefeller Vision: In Pursuit of “the Best” in the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas By Alisa LaGamma, Curator in Charge The scion of one of the nation’s most significant philanthropic families, Nelson A. Rockefeller served as Vice President of the United States from 1974–1977 under Gerald R. Ford and was elected for four consecutive terms as Governor of the State of New York from 1959– 1973. Key formative influences for Rockefeller were his mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, who was a founder of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), and his travels abroad. These led to a passion for collecting modern art, Far Eastern sculpture and painting, and Precolumbian,
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