James Rorimer

James J. Rorimer (1905–1966), was an American museum curator and the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

On his graduation from Harvard University in 1927, James Rorimer was immediately hired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, beginning a career with the Met that would last his entire adult life. From his initial position as an assistant in the Decorative Arts department, he quickly rose through the ranks to become Curator of Medieval Art in 1934. Having worked closely with the previous curator, his mentor Joseph Breck, Rorimer used his new role to continue Breck's most important project : the planning and construction of the Cloisters, the new medieval extension to the Met.

In 1938, the Cloisters opened, and Rorimer was named its curator, a position which brought with it new duties as fundraiser and developer for the new collection. Among the pieces purchased by Rorimer for the Cloisters are many of the collection's modern-day "signature works", including the Unicorn Tapestries.

Rorimer's career at the Met was interrupted by the United States' entry into World War II, and he signed up as an infantryman in the United States Army in 1943. He was soon appointed to a job more suited to his specialized skills. As head of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section of the Western District's Seventh Army, Rorimer was tasked to uncover and preserve significant works of art stolen by the Nazis. By all accounts he relished his new role as one of the "Monuments Men," and was personally responsible for seizing the art collections of both Goering and Goebbels.

After the war, Rorimer returned to the Met and to a new position (in 1949) as Director of the Cloisters, reporting directly to the Met's director, Francis Henry Taylor. On Taylor's resignation in 1954, Rorimer was placed on the short list of candidates to fill his role, and he became director of the museum eight months later in 1955. As director, Rorimer proved to be a capable administrator, though his directorship was plagued by contentious battles with trustees and the museum's staff. Nonetheless, the Met acquired many new and significant works during his eleven-year tenure, including Rembrandt's "Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer", and attendance at the museum tripled from 2 million to 6 million visitors annually.

Rorimer died in his sleep in 1966, of a heart attack.

Trivia

After his tour of duty in World War II, Rorimer habitually wore combat boots as part of his everyday wardrobe, even with formal suits and tuxedos.

References

* [http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/rorimerj.htm Dictionary of Art Historians page] on James J. Rorimer
*Thomas Hoving. "Making the Mummies Dance". New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.