The myth of corporate art: the start of the Peter Stuyvesant Collection and its alignment with public arts policy in the Netherlands, 1950–1960

ABSTRACT

The Dutch Peter Stuyvesant art collection, started in 1960, seems to offer the archetypical success story of a private entrepreneur sharing his love of art with his employees. Yet this specific corporate art collection was not the brainchild of an enlightened director, but was initiated by two private foundations functioning as semi-governmental institutions that had been promoting art and culture amongst the Dutch working classes since 1950. The historical sources on this initiative also indicate that after 1945 corporate art collections were intended as an alternative way of implementing the arm’s-length principle in Dutch cultural policy. This case study, and similar international examples, shows that first, corporate art collections should be explained within the broader political and cultural context, and that second, research on the history of cultural dissemination should include the private actors that aligned their goals with government policies towards the arts.

KEYWORDS:

• Arts policy after 1945
• cultural dissemination
• corporate art collecting
• public-private initiatives
• Peter Stuyvesant Collection

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The author wishes to thank Celine van Kleef, Roosmarij Deenik and Constance van Beurden-Zaal for sharing their research outcomes with him, and Ingrid Mens at the Liemers Museum for her assistance in the consultation of the Stuyvesant Archive.

2. Herman Swart’s personal archive is preserved at the RKD, The Hague, but is not yet accessible due to privacy regulations.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek [CI-14-16]; Netherlands Association of Corporate Art Collections [CI-14-16].

Notes on contributors

Arnold Witte

Arnold Witte is an Associate Professor of Cultural Policy at the University of Amsterdam, Department of Arts and Culture. His research focus is on the patronage of arts and culture, ranging from ecclesiastical patronage in the early modern period to the phenomenon of contemporary corporate collecting.