Giving and Receiving: Memoirs of an Immigrant Curator and Philanthropist

"Born in war-torn Czechoslovakia, Marica's career aspirations were curtailed due to government corruption and the blacklisting of her family, but she was determined to build a better life elsewhere. In the fall of 1964, Marica and her husband, Jan Vilcek, defected from their home country, arriving in New York City the next year. While Jan started his research position at the New York University School of Medicine, Marica volunteered for the Brooklyn Museum before securing a position at The Metropolitan Museum of Art."

"Giving and Receiving: Memoirs of an Immigrant Curator and Philanthropist tells the incredible life story of art historian Marica Vilcek as she shares the exceptional circumstances that shaped the mission of the Vilcek Foundation, which she and her husband Jan established 25 years ago to highlight immigrant contributions to the arts and sciences in the United States."

"Over her 30-year tenure at the institution, Marica rose to Associate Curator in Charge of the Accessions and Catalogue Department, where she established a new level of quality and care that helped solidify the importance of curatorial work. "Art objects are, after all, the heart and soul of the museum," Marica notes. "Curators, the keepers and custodians of these art objects, are responsible for presenting these works to the public by way of exhibitions, publications, and didactic materials, and in order to do so they must have comprehensive information about each of the objects they work with.""

Marica Vilcek escaped Czechoslovakia after her family was blacklisted and sought a new life in the United States. She and her husband arrived in New York in the mid-1960s, where Jan took a research position and Marica began volunteering at the Brooklyn Museum before joining The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Over a 30-year career at The Met, she became Associate Curator in Charge of Accessions and Catalogue, raising curatorial standards and emphasizing thorough documentation of objects. Marica and Jan established the Vilcek Foundation to champion immigrant contributions to the arts and sciences and to provide community support.

Read at Hyperallergic