Wendy and Emery Reves Foundation
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| Wendy and Emery Reves Foundation | |
|---|---|
| Name | Wendy and Emery Reves Foundation |
| Formation | 1973 |
| Headquarters | Winston-Salem, North Carolina |
| Founder | Wendy Reves, Emery Reves |
| Type | Foundation |
Wendy and Emery Reves Foundation is a philanthropic foundation established to preserve the art collection and estate of Wendy Reves and Emery Reves at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The foundation manages Villa Le Monde and supports exhibitions, research, and public programs linking the collection to international cultural figures and institutions such as The Louvre, Museum of Modern Art, British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
History
The foundation was created following the deaths of philanthropist and collector Wendy Reves and publisher Emery Reves, whose careers intersected with figures including Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Charles de Gaulle, Harry S. Truman, and Edgar Faure. The Reveses amassed art and decorative arts in contact with dealers like Jacques Seligmann, collectors such as Paul Mellon and Peggy Guggenheim, and curators affiliated with Smithsonian Institution and National Gallery of Art. The estate’s transfer involved legal arrangements with Wake Forest University and interactions with cultural bodies including United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and patrons like John D. Rockefeller III. Early stewardship saw collaborations with curators from Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art, and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to accession works and develop conservation policies influenced by standards from Getty Conservation Institute and International Council of Museums.
Mission and Activities
The foundation’s mission emphasizes preservation, scholarship, and access, aligning with practices championed by institutions such as Library of Congress, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery (United Kingdom), and Uffizi Gallery. Activities include loans to exhibitions at venues like Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Centre Pompidou, Rijksmuseum, Prado Museum, and Hermitage Museum; research partnerships with universities including Harvard University, Yale University, Columbia University, Oxford University, and University of Cambridge; and advisory exchanges with organizations like American Alliance of Museums, Association of Art Museum Directors, Council on Library and Information Resources, and International Council on Archives.
Villa Le Monde (Reves Collection)
Villa Le Monde, the Reveses’ house and exhibition complex, functions similarly to house museums such as Monet's House and Garden, Frida Kahlo Museum, Henry Clay Frick House, Norman Rockwell Museum, and Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum. The property contains period rooms and salons curated in dialogue with designers and architects like Jean-Michel Frank, Sven Markelius, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Philip Johnson. Villa Le Monde’s installation draws parallels to historic house projects at Mount Vernon, Monticello, Blenheim Palace, and Versailles in its approach to contextual presentation, conservation, and visitor interpretation developed with consultants from Historic England and National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Collections and Holdings
The foundation’s holdings include European paintings, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works comparable to pieces in musée d'Orsay, Van Gogh Museum, and Musée Rodin; 18th- and 19th-century French and English decorative arts related to collections at Victoria and Albert Museum and Rijksmuseum; 20th-century design and fashion objects resonant with Cooper Hewitt, Museo del Traje, and Victoria and Albert Museum exhibitions; and textile, silver, porcelain, and furniture collections with affinities to Waddesdon Manor, Kensington Palace, Hermitage Museum, and Palace of Versailles. The archive includes correspondence and materials connected to political and literary figures such as Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, T. S. Eliot, Pablo Picasso, and Salvador Dalí, and records intersecting with publishing houses like Random House and Scribner.
Education and Public Programs
Educational initiatives mirror programmatic models at Smithsonian Institution and Getty Foundation, offering docent-led tours, lectures, symposia, and fellowships developed in collaboration with departments at Wake Forest University, Duke University, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the American Alliance of Museums. Public programs have featured speakers and curators from Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tate Modern, Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, and Philadelphia Museum of Art. Youth outreach and K–12 partnerships follow curricular links with North Carolina Department of Public Instruction standards and teacher workshops modeled on National Endowment for the Arts initiatives.
Governance and Funding
Governance follows nonprofit board structures similar to trusteeships at Ford Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, and Knight Foundation. The board includes representatives from Wake Forest University and regional cultural leaders connected to Winston-Salem Foundation, Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County, and North Carolina Arts Council. Funding streams comprise endowment income, grants from entities like National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, philanthropic gifts from private donors and foundations such as Gates Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and revenue from admissions and special events coordinated with partners like Southern Arts Federation and Southeastern Museums Conference.