Women’s History Month Spotlight: Linda Wolk-Simon, Renaissance Woman

In honor of Women's History Month, Scarsdale Patch will be running a series of Q&As every Friday afternoon highlighting the Village's notable women. This week, Scarsdale Patch interviews Linda Wolk-Simon, an accomplished curator and academic.

The subject of women and art is a fraught one; while it seems that there are just as many young female gallery assistants and struggling female artists as there are males in the lower ranks, there are far fewer female pioneers at the top of the field. Wolk-Simon is part of the minority – and she points to many signs indicating that while the air at the peak of her profession is as rarefied as ever, more and more women will be joining her up there to enjoy the view.  

Wolk-Simon was recently appointed the Charles W. Engelhard Curator and Head of the Morgan Library and Museum’s Department of Drawing and Prints. She hails from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints. While Wolk-Simon said she was sorry to leave the Met – one of the most storied and respected museums in the world -- behind, she simply couldn’t resist the offer she received at the Morgan.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity to run a department, especially one with one of the most upstanding collections in the world,” Wolk-Simon said.

Wolk-Simon, who specializes in art from the Italian Renaissance, has been given a broad mandate to revitalize the Morgan’s drawing and print department by the Morgan's director, William Griswold. A Renaissance Woman, Wolk-Simon is uniquely equipped to run a well-respected department – and shake up any parts of it that are veering towards the staid and straight-laced.

While Wolk-Simon is a shameless art wonk (she is the recipient of a Fulbright Grant and a tireless lecturer and writer), she has also been known to create minor — and wonderfully entertaining — tizzies over some of her programs.

The most notable tempest occurred during Wolk-Simon's contribution to the Met's “Art and Love in Renaissance Italy” show in 2008. Renderings of giant genitalia (one riding a chariot, no less!), depictions of acrobatic sexual acts and other scandalous sights flashed throughout the exhibit. A Parental Discretion sign was mounted, and the director at the time, Philippe de Montebello, drew the line at including a print of a work by Marcantonio Raimondi involving a large dildo – but the free PR the exhibit received amid the kerfluffle was priceless.

The drawing and print department is one of the Morgan’s largest, with roughly 25,000 works from the 14^th century onward in its possession. Not surprisingly, Wolk-Simon isn’t content to just point and pick from the archives for upcoming exhibitions. 

“When I begin in May, I will launch a program of new shows that will focus on international exhibitions of master drawings on loan from America and abroad,” Wolk-Simon said. “The first exhibit is planned for 2013, and it will be the first monographic exhibit of the 17^th century painter Salvator Rosa. He’s a contemporary of the sculptor Bernini, and he’s an extremely exciting, modern personality, in addition to being an extraordinary artist. I already have promises from major museums and collectors who are happy to lend their work for the show. This will be a template for all of our future shows.”

After spending 25 years at an institution that some women claimed was hopelessly retrograde when it came to sexual politics (the feminist art group the Guerrilla Girls launched a public art project in 1989 that queried “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?”) and emerging to spearhead an entire division at the Morgan, Wolk-Simon seemed like the perfect woman to tap for insight into the past, present and future of women in art.

 Patch: What historical or living women do you most hope to emulate?

Wolk-Simon: Well, there are several different groups of women I look to for different reasons. While I’m not a feminist art historian – I believe that what makes art great has little to nothing to do with gender – I do admire many of the women who proceeded me in the field, from the handful of female Renaissance artists to the larger number of women in the Renaissance who shaped the history of art through commissioning art, consuming it, and patronage.

Starting in the 1950s, it stopped being unusual to see women with very high profiles in the art world; the women who emerged from the British Warburg and Courtald Institute were stellar. I love my work; but being a good mom is equally important to me. I’ve lived in Scarsdale for almost two decades, and I’ve always looked at other parents who did a great job and tried to emulate them.  

Patch: If you could change one thing about the role of women in art, what would it be?

Wolk-Simon: I try to think less about gender and more about the quality of each individual’s contribution. I would certainly never hang a mediocre painting just because a woman created it. However, I do believe though that women have a unique perspective and a slightly different touch from men, and I think their contribution to all fields, from art to medicine, is essential towards creating a well-rounded world.

Patch: Have you ever personally witnessed a milestone for women?

Wolk-Simon: In recent years especially, women have been given amazing opportunities. The directors of several major collections across the country are women, with Anne Poulet, the director of the Frick Collection, right here in New York.

Patch: What are you most proud of accomplishing in your career?
 
Wolk-Simon: I’m really excited about my future at the Morgan. It’s obviously an exciting opportunity for me, and it’s an exciting time at the Morgan itself. When Renzo Piano joined the Morgan’s buildings together with the beautiful glass exterior and redesigned the interior, he made it even more of a destination, in and of itself.

The Morgan has a completely unique architectural footprint, and it’s the only major cultural destination in Midtown, aside from the Public Library. It’s also a five-minute walk from Grand Central. And unlike the Met, it’s really intimate, inviting and manageable. Anyone could come in on the train for a few hours and see the entire museum — which is full of masterpieces — have lunch, and then return to Scarsdale. I love being a part of that.

The Morgan Museum & Library is located at 225 Madison Avenue (at 36^th Street) in Manhattan. The Morgan is open Tuesday-Thursday from 10:30 a.m.-5 p.m., on Friday from 10:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m., on Saturday from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Admission is $15 for adults and $10 for children. Admission is waived on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. For more information, call the museum at (212) 685-0008 or visit it online