The Hilton and Esta Kramer Collection

Hilton and Esta Kramer wore many hats in their lifetimes. Primarily, they were writers who chronicled the highs and lows of the arts scene in New York City and elsewhere. Beginning in 1965, Hilton (1928–2012) was the chief art critic at the New York Times for seventeen years before leaving to establish the art journal The New Criterion. Esta (1929–2020) wrote for and served as an editor for Arts Magazine before devoting herself to gardening and cooking, among other activities. During their forty-eight years of marriage, the couple also built a substantial art collection of twentieth- and twenty-first century American art. Recently nearly 200 works from that collection were added to the Permanent Collection of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art. Having been received, the collection is currently being catalogued, photographed, and studied. While these tasks continue, the artworks are now searchable on-line through the Museum’s Collections portal.

Hilton and Esta purchased works from many of the artists they admired, though often artists presented them as personal gifts. Retiring to Damariscotta, Maine, in 2002, they filled their home with this collection. Indeed, every wall was covered from floor to ceiling. Other works were found in closets, in cabinets, and seated on and under pieces of furniture.

The collection represents a who’s who of contemporary art. They did not favor one particular medium or artistic style, preferring instead to collect work that appealed to their eye and to their broad understanding of the history of art. Two early abstract sculptures by Louise Nevelson held pride of place in their living room next to realist sculptures by Anne Arnold, William Dickey, and Diego Giacometti. Paintings and collages by abstract artists such as Joseph Cornell, Alfred Mauer, Richard Pousette-Dart, and Anne Ryan mixed with more representational work by George Ault, Morris Kantor, and Fairfield Porter. Drawings, prints, and photographs were everywhere, often inscribed by the artist directly to one or both of them.

Having alighted in Maine, they were attuned to and supported the state’s vibrant arts scene. Local artists whose work they collected included Dozier Bell, Lois Dodd, Kayla Mohammadi, Emily Nelligan, and John Walker, among others. During this period, they continued to attend art openings and programs at the BCMA and other museums and galleries throughout the state. Several of these donated works have been exhibited at the BCMA in the past. In the future, we look forward to showing more from this remarkable collection. In the meantime, see this link for a complete inventory of the collection: https://artmuseum.bowdoin.edu/objects-1/thumbnails?records=40&query=mfs%20all%20%22esta%20kramer%22&sort=0

We are grateful to the extraordinary generosity of Hilton and Esta and look forward to stewarding the beloved collection they built over their lifetime.

Frank Goodyear
Co-Director, Bowdoin College Museum of Art

 

Illustration: Images from a Penny Arcade, ca. 1962–1976, paper collage by Joseph Cornell. Bequest of Hilton and Esta Kramer. Bowdoin College Museum of Art