| Emily Fisher Landau | |
|---|---|
| Name | Emily Fisher Landau |
| Birth date | 1921 |
| Death date | 2023 |
| Occupation | Real estate investor, art collector, philanthropist |
| Nationality | American |
Emily Fisher Landau was an American real estate investor and prominent contemporary art collector and philanthropist. Known for assembling a major collection of postwar and contemporary art and for major gifts to cultural and educational institutions, she played a significant role in shaping museum collections and public access to modern art. Her activities connected her to institutions across New York City and to artists and collectors worldwide.
Born into a family active in commerce and finance in the early 20th century, Landau grew up during the interwar period and the Great Depression, contexts that influenced contemporaries such as David Rockefeller, J. Paul Getty, Paul Mellon, Peggy Guggenheim, and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Her formative years coincided with major events like the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the New Deal, and the cultural shifts following World War II. She received education consistent with families engaged in business and civic institutions, navigating social networks that included figures associated with Columbia University, New York University, Yale University, Harvard University, and museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
Landau built a career in commercial and residential property management and investment, operating within the New York real estate milieu shaped by developers like Harry Helmsley, Donald Trump, Leona Helmsley, Joseph P. Day, and firms such as Tishman Realty, The Related Companies, Rudin Management Company, Vornado Realty Trust, and SL Green Realty. Her activities intersected with city planning and zoning discussions involving entities like the New York City Department of City Planning, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (New York City), and influential projects comparable to Hudson Yards, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and the revitalization efforts in neighborhoods associated with SoHo (Manhattan), Chelsea, Manhattan, and Tribeca. Landau's investments and holdings placed her amid networks that included financiers and trustees connected to Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Carnegie Hall Corporation, and civic leaders connected to the Parks Department (New York City).
Beginning in the postwar era, Landau assembled a collection emphasizing postwar and contemporary painting, sculpture, photography, and works on paper, following trajectories similar to collectors such as Iris Apfel, Eli Broad, Charles Saatchi, Saul Steinberg, Alice Walton, and Leonard A. Lauder. Her collection included works by artists associated with movements and schools represented in institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Guggenheim, and the Tate Modern. She engaged with dealers and galleries comparable to Leo Castelli Gallery, Gagosian Gallery, Pace Gallery, David Zwirner, and Hauser & Wirth, and worked alongside curators and critics connected to New Museum, MoMA PS1, Centre Pompidou, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and international biennials such as the Venice Biennale and the Documenta exhibitions. Landau's philanthropy mirrored patterns of patronage seen with foundations like the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Getty Foundation, supporting acquisitions, exhibitions, and study centers.
Through a foundation bearing her name, Landau made significant promised and realized gifts to museums, universities, and cultural organizations. These endowments and promised bequests were structured to support galleries, curatorial positions, and study centers at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, The Jewish Museum (Manhattan), Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her foundation's activities paralleled the grantmaking practices of entities like the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Neubauer Family Foundation, and influenced exhibition programming at museums such as the Brooklyn Museum, Morgan Library & Museum, Frick Collection, The Frick Collection, and Asia Society. Major donations often involved collaborations with trustees, directors, and curators comparable to Glenn D. Lowry, Adam D. Weinberg, Klaus Biesenbach, Donna De Salvo, and Nancy Spector.
Landau's personal network included figures from finance, real estate, art, and philanthropy, connecting her to families and individuals reminiscent of Sotheby's, Christie's, Phillips (auction house), collectors like Peter Brant, Agnes Gund, and cultural leaders such as Marian Goodman and Helene Wurlitzer. Her legacy is reflected in museum galleries, endowed positions, and public exhibitions that continue to shape collecting and display practices in New York and beyond, influencing scholarship at institutions like The Getty Research Institute, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, and international museums engaged in contemporary art discourse. Her death was noted by arts institutions, curators, and educational organizations that had received support from her foundation, cementing her role among notable 20th- and 21st-century patrons of the arts such as Peggy Guggenheim and Eli Broad.
Category:American art collectors Category:American philanthropists Category:People associated with New York City