Garbisch, Edgar William, Mr. and Mrs.

Biography

Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch spent the nearly five decades of their married lives collecting art and objets d'art. Most famous for their collection of American naive paintings which was begun long before the genre became popular, they also bought fine examples of American furniture, glass, iron and brass work, Chinese and European porcelain, and French furniture and paintings of the Impressionist through modern periods. They did most of their buying in the 1940s and 1950s, though Bernice, daughter of the auto magnate Walter P. Chrysler, grew up in a home full of European art, and acquired some French Impressionist paintings long before they were fashionable. In the 1950s, they began making room for more acquisitions by donating works to museums, twenty-three museums in all. Edgar was born in 1899, Bernice in 1907; they died within hours of each other at Dorchester County (Maryland) Hospital in December 1979.

Bibliography

1979

Ledbetter, Les. "Chrysler Daughter and Husband Die Within Hours of Each Other." The New York Times 15 December, 1979

1980

Powell, Jim. "A Lifetime of Love and Lore: The Garbisch Collection." Antiques World. (May, 1980): 89-92

1992

Chotner, Deborah, with contributions by Julie Aronson, Sarah D. Cash, and Laurie Weitzenkorn. American Naive Paintings. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: introduction, xi-xii

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