The Norweb Collection - An American Legacy

During her decade long presidency, Mrs. Norweb influenced the direction the museum took in several areas. Her most active interest was in the field of pre-Columbian art. There is an interesting story connected with her collection of early South American art. Apparently, she kept the collection in a large steamer trunk, which she carried with her to each new posting the Norwebs were sent to. On a visit back home in Cleveland she is said to have asked William Milliken, director of the museum from 1930 to 1958, if he wanted the contents of a grave. He replied "Certainly not" adding that the museum was not interested in archaeology. Five years later, during a dinner party at her home in Bratenahl, she opened the trunk and showed the contents to Milliken. "Emery May, don't touch it;' he said, looking at the priceless Peruvian textile on top. "It's too valuable" When he saw the gold objects in the trunk, he insisted on locking them up in the museum safe that very night.

Among the many gifts Mr. and Mrs. Norweb made to the museum over the years, the following stand out as most significant. The collection of Peruvian textiles is one of the best of its kind anywhere. Funds for the purchase of additional textiles, and other pre-Columbian objects, were also provided by the Norwebs. Chinese and Japanese art was also represented among the donations, as well as funds for the purchase of important pieces of Chinese furniture. Henry Norweb's particular interest was in 18th century French ceramic ware, including some of the most important objects in the museum's entire collection. A large collection of glass paperweights was also donated. And finally, the collection of English gold coins, including pieces from Celtic times through 20th century issues, is one of the grandest ever put together by a private collector.

An appreciation of Mrs. Norweb's importance to the Cleveland Museum of Art can be found in a memorial address given by Sherman E. Lee, the museum's director during her presidency, which is extracted here:

Emery May was a Holden, and that immediately meant much to the world of art, in Cleveland and the larger world, for patrons of Italian Renaissance Art and had made it possible for the infant museum of 1916 to reveal something of the great achievements of that time. In her travels to the necessary diplomatic positions of her husband, the Honorable R. Henry Norweb, in Japan, Peru, Portugal, and others, she had trained her eye and mind to response and knowledge in the world of art. She learned through perseverance and discipline supported by gift and memory.

I was not a little bit afraid of Emery May before she was elected president of the Board of Trustees of the Cleveland Museum of Art on January 30, 1962. True, she had been a generous donor to my own Oriental curatorial department well before this time. Her quick and delighted positive reaction to the pair of Japanese screens of Iris by Watanabe Shiko, which she gave in 1954, both amazed and delighted me. She really knew a great deal about them; their subject and their previous owners, the Matsukata family. Her stay in Japan had provided her not only with the experience of the 1923 earthquake, but with the opportunity to sharpen her eye for Japanese art.

The next years were much occupied with plans for and then the construction of the new educational wing of the Museum, opened by President Norweb on February 2, 1971. She played a major, crucial role in that necessary addition. First, she recognized the justness of emphasizing the educational focus of the new construction. Her logic and gifted political sixth sense prevailed over less appropriate nomenclature. But above all, she recognized immediately the appropriateness of using a major architect, that the architect should be Marcel Breuer, who had just completed the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and that his daring and controversial suggested design was right for the specific place and function of the new wing. Without her full support and delight in creativity, I am certain the project would not have succeeded.