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Martha Codman Karolik

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Martha Codman, 1906, by Georgine Campbell

Martha Catherine Codman Karolik (July 24, 1858 – April 21, 1948) was a philanthropist and American art collector. She donated three major collections of early American furniture, paintings, and prints and drawings to the Boston Fine Art Museum which built a new wing to host it.[1]

Biography

Martha Catherine Codman was born on July 24, 1858, in a family whose wealth came from the Russian and China clipper trade, the only surviving child of John Amory Codman (1824-1886) and Martha Pickman Rogers (1829-1905).[1][2] She grew up in Newport and Boston.[2] She was the great-great-granddaughter of merchant Elias Hasket Derby, considered America's first millionaire.[3] In 1923 she published the journal of her ancestor, Catherine Willard, as Journal of Mrs. John Amory.[2]

Codman-Davis House

In 1907, Ogden Codman Jr. built what was later to be known at the Codman–Davis House in Washington, D.C. for his cousin Martha Codman. Codman took inspiration from the Château de Voisins, Louveciennes, Seine et Oise.[2] The house is currently the official residence of the Ambassador of Thailand, and one of the few intact homes that Ogden Codman Jr. designed. He also designed the Codman Carriage House and Stable which later served as a store, nightclub, and office space.[4][5] Martha Codman sold the house in 1938.[2]

In 1910 Ogden Codman designed "Berkeley Villa" (now Bellevue House), a Colonial Revival mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, for Martha Codman; later, the house belonged to Jane Pickens Hoving, an American singer on Broadway, radio and television for 20 years, who was married Walter Hoving owner of Tiffany & Company and Bonwit Teller. Ronald Lee Fleming, an urban planner, bought the house in 1999.[6] Bellevue House was Ogden Codman's last project in Newport, and it now house part of the American art collection that Martha Codman, alone at first and then with her husband, amassed.[7]

On February 2, 1928, Martha Codman, scandalizing Boston society, married Maxim Karolik (1893-1963), an opera singer by profession who was notable as an art collector and donor. He was 35 years younger than she.[8]

Martha Codman was a member of Art Association of Newport, Garden Club, Improvement Association, Newport Historical Society and Redwood Library.[3]

Maxim Karolik bought Expulsion from the Garden of Eden by Thomas Cole in 1944. Martha Codman donated the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1947.[9] It has been in their collection ever since and can be seen on display in their galleries.[10]

Martha Codman Karolik died on April 21, 1948.[11][1]

Legacy

In 1939 the Karoliks donated their 18th-century collection of American paintings, furniture, silver and other examples of art to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which built a wing for it.[2] At the time it was valued at $400,000 ($8,761,722 in 2023 dollars). The Martha & Maxim Karolik Collection of American Paintings (1815-1865) is considered one of the most important collection of American pictures in public or private hands of that period.[3]

The Karolik-Codman family papers (1714-1964) are hosted at the Massachusetts Historical Society.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Karolik-Codman Family Papers". Massachusetts Historical Society. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Her Saving Grace". The Washington Post. 1979. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "Martha & Maxim Karolik". Redwood Library & Athenæum. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  5. ^ "For a Day, Embassies Share The Secrets of Themselves". The New York Times. September 7, 1995. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
  6. ^ "The House of Worth". The New York Times. 2006. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Martha Codman House". Society of Architectural Historians. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  8. ^ "Real housewives of Boston". Los Angeles Times. 2010. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  9. ^ "Karolik, Martha Catherine Codman". Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
  10. ^ "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden"
  11. ^ "Mrs. Karolik, 92, Art Patron, Dies. Newport Leader and Husband Gave $400,000 Collection of Americana Museum". New York Times. April 22, 1948.
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