Emily Rauh Pulitzer gives 22 ‘masterpieces’ to St. Louis Art Museum

There’s always room for another Picasso or two.

Adding to almost a century of Pulitzer gifts to the St. Louis Art Museum, Emily Rauh Pulitzer has promised 22 more artworks for its collection.

The museum announced the multimillion-dollar gift Monday, calling the works “masterpieces” that are like a primer of art history in the 20th century.

“It’s really an extraordinary time to be part of this great institution,” said Min Jung Kim, who started as museum director less than two months ago. “We are so pleased with this gift,” she said.

Neither Kim nor Pulitzer would estimate the monetary worth of the pieces, but just a few of the most valuable might have brought some $200 million at auction.

Included are two pieces by Pablo Picasso; works by another famous Spaniard, Joan Miró; a self-portrait by American Andy Warhol; and one of his iconic Marilyn Monroe prints.

Overall, 17 American and European artists are represented, including Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi, whose “Mademoiselle Pogany III” from 1933 will be the museum’s first acquisition of his work.

The pieces are “highly important additions” and among the most significant gifts in its 142-year history, the museum said in a press release Monday.

Pulitzer hopes St. Louisans find them meaningful, “as enriching in their lives as they have been in mine,” she said in an interview.

Some of the artworks were initially purchased by her husband, Joseph Pulitzer Jr., who died in 1993; others were acquired by her or by the couple together.

Emily Pulitzer alone chose the pieces she wanted to offer: “I get the blame, and I get the credit.”

She has been involved with the museum since 1964, when she came to St. Louis as the institution’s curator (then called the City Art Museum). “I know the collection,” she said. No one in the local art community would disagree.

The Pulitzer family, which made its fortune in publishing and formerly owned the Post-Dispatch, previously had donated 144 artworks, plus millions of dollars, to the museum.

But she would not hint at the value of the 22 pending pieces.

Recent auctions show that in May, a 1932 Picasso painting (of the same woman in Pulitzer’s gift “Woman in a Red Hat”) sold at Sotheby’s for $103.4 million (”Femme assise près d’une fenêtre [Marie-Thérèse]).

A 1932 bronze sculpture by Brancusi sold at Christie’s in 2018 for more than $71 million (”La jeune fille sophistiquée”). And a self-portrait by Andy Warhol from 1986 sold in 2010 for $32 million.

‘Welcome gift’

Pulitzer said an artwork’s value “is based on a willing seller and a willing buyer, and we have neither here.”

Her gift is legally binding, but the date or dates of transfer to the museum are unknown. The museum said in its news release that “the works will be transferred to the museum at or before Mrs. Pulitzer’s death, as she chooses.”

Pulitzer is 88 and active; before the pandemic, she went to her office in the Pulitzer Arts Foundation almost every day. She said that after vaccines and a booster, she’s started returning to work.

Some artworks may go to the museum before her death. Pulitzer gave few details but said “it’s possible there will be some works on loan fairly soon.”

She did call the timing of the announcement a “welcome gift” for Min Jung Kim as the museum’s new director.

“I think she’s going to be a fabulous director. Already is.” Pulitzer looks forward to ongoing collaboration between the St. Louis Art Museum and the Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and terms of the gift specify such cooperation will continue in perpetuity.

Since she founded her own museum, which opened on Washington Boulevard in 2001, the Forest Park institution has lent 84 works to 15 of the foundation’s exhibitions, and the institutions have collaborated on things like educational programs.