First published 2009
The Metropolitan Museum of Art stands as America's richest cultural institution, but Michael Gross reveals the hidden battles that built its empire. This unauthorized history follows 138 years of scheming trustees, ambitious donors, and ruthless collectors who shaped the museum through wealth and manipulation. Gross chronicles the machinations of directors like Thomas Hoving and Philippe de Montebello alongside power brokers including J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller Jr., and Brooke Astor. He uncovers how these elite figures used art as currency in their social climbing and philanthropic games. The book traces scandals involving questionable acquisitions, board room coups, and the clash between old money traditions and new world ambitions. Gross shows how curators, collectors, and cultural figures like Diana Vreeland navigated this treacherous landscape where artistic vision met raw power. The result exposes the calculating nature behind America's most prestigious cultural philanthropy.
Genres: history, 20th-century, biography-memoir, 21st-century, art-history, cultural-studies
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: institutional-critique, investigative-journalism
Setting: Metropolitan Museum of Art, America
Period: 138 Years
545 pages · Hardcover · Broadway Books