Saunders Honored with New Professorship

Author: Chris Grosso

The term "Arcadia" is reserved to identify a special place of simple pleasure and tranquility. Arcadian landscapes have furnished countless paintings and served as backdrops to pastoral poetries. To characterize a region in such a way is a testament to its magnificence. For almost two decades, Richard H. Saunders, the director of the Middlebury College's Museum of Art, has witnessed and taken part in fostering a similar atmosphere at Middlebury.

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, Saunders, in his inaugural lecture as Walter Cerf Distinguished College Professor, explained, "For the past 10 to 15 years, Middlebury has been an Arcadian environment - its campus, its people and its programs of unequal caliber. The museum has been a small part of this greatness." Since his arrival Saunders has played an integral role in energizing the Museum and supporting the arts at Middlebury.

Saunders came to the College in 1985, and during his time here, the Museum has profited from successful fundraising, expanded from the original galleries in Johnson to the CFA, hosted over 100 exhibits and published over 100 catalogs. He has prepared several manuscripts on "The American Face: Portraits from 1675 - 2000." He is a Trustee of the Shelburne Museum and a consultant of American Folk Art for Sotheby's. His most recent achievement, a tribute to his dedication and loyalty, is his appointment to the Walter Cerf Distinguished College Professorship.

Walter Cerf was born in Berlin in 1907 to a wealthy Jewish family that owned a major European securities firm. After earning a philosophy degree in Germany, he came to America in 1936 with his family, leaving much of their fortune behind. Cerf was driven to succeed in his adopted home. He quickly learned English and enrolled at Princeton University, where he would go on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy and become a world-class professor. When Cerf retired from teaching and moved to Lancaster, Vt., he nurtured his love for art and education. He attended galleries and arts shows, appraising artwork and accumulating his own collection. Art, along with Cerf's other interests such as business, science and philosophy, became an inspiration for philanthropy. Cerf died Oct. 26, 2001, leaving $20 million to be divided between Princeton, Brooklyn College and the Weizmann Institute for Science in Israel. Cerf also left a good portion of his estate to Middlebury College.

It is with this money that the Cerf Professorship has been endowed. The position is a culmination and symbol of Cerf's dedication, generosity and passion for art and education. Saunders is honored to celebrate his close friend's life.

In his first lecture as the Distinguished Professor, Saunders focused on "An American Painter in Arcadia: Jasper Cropsey in Italy, 1847-1849." In front of a healthy crowd in Dana Auditorium, he enthusiastically spoke about the itinerant history and the picture postcard-like work of the nineteenth century American painter. Saunders explained that the recent acquisition of the College is typical of Cropsey's later work - the motif of New England autumn with glorious and brilliant color.

The subject of Saunder's lecture was fitting since Cerf was drawn to Vermont because of its picturesque towns and agricultural landscape, which physically reminded him of his German homeland - and was similar to the landscapes of Cropsey.