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Biography of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.

May 27, 1909 - September 17, 1988

Industrialist, art collector, bibliophile, publisher, and theatrical producer Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., was born on May 27, 1909 in Oelwein, Iowa. He grew up on a Long Island estate on the north shore, with a view of the Manhattan skyline now characterized by the landmark building named for his father, Walter P. Chrysler, Sr. The elder Chrysler, a noted automobile designer, was president of Buick Corporation, executive vice president of General Motors and founder of the Chrysler Corporation.

Walter Chrysler was fond of recalling a remark his father once made to him when he was a boy surrounded by the fine art objects his parents had acquired: "Son, they are yours to enjoy only for a brief period of time. But remember that fundamentally they and all things like them must belong to everyone, and the best of them will become public property in museums throughout the country."

Inspired by these words, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., began a nearly eight decades-long journey of collecting. The New York Times Critic John Russell wrote of this odyssey, "It would be difficult to spend time in the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, Virginia, and not come away convinced that the most underrated American art collector of the past 50 years and more was the late Walter P. Chrysler, Jr."

"Collecting has always been in my blood," Chrysler said. While a 14-year old student at Hotchkiss School, he purchased his first painting—a small Renoir watercolor of a nude—with $350 in birthday money from his father. A dorm master, believing the work to be salacious, confiscated and destroyed the piece.

Chrysler's love for collecting met a kinder fate in the ensuing 65 years. While at Dartmouth College, he founded Cheshire House, a publisher of fine limited edition books. Several won "Best Book of the Year" awards from the prestigious Grolier Club.

After attending Dartmouth, Chrysler embarked on a grand tour of Europe. There he met Picasso, Braque, Gris, Matisse, Leger, and other avant-garde artists in Paris. He lost no time in buying works by each, quickly assembling perhaps the largest and most important private collection of modern painting and sculpture in the United States. He also amassed a number of significant American works by Burchfield, Marin, and Benton. Throughout the 1930s, he enthusiastically participated in the development of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. He also saw works from his collection exhibited as such venues as the Mellon Library and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

In 1934, Chrysler founded the Air-Temp division of the Chrysler Corporation, which developed the first air-conditioning system on wheels. After setting up worldwide distribution, factory organization and engineering, he transferred the division to the parent corporation, remaining as the director.

The following year he acquired both the presidency of the Chrysler Building—a position he held until 1953—and the Paul Eluard-Camille Dausse collection of Surrealist and Dada material for the library of the Museum of Modern Art. As the first chairman of MoMA's Library Committee, Chrysler was instrumental in forming this preeminent modern art reference library. In addition, several pillars of MoMA's permanent collection—including Matisse's Dance and Picasso's The Charnel House—came from Chrysler's collection.

Although art was his chief interest, Chrysler made several theatrical forays. He produced the plays "The Strong Are Lonely" and "New Faces," a smash hit on Broadway which introduced actress Eartha Kitt. Chrysler also produced the film "The Joe Louis Story" and the English production of "The Hanging Judge."

In the public realm, Chrysler worked under Nelson Rockefeller as coordinator of inter-America Affairs in Washington, D.C., in 1940. At the outbreak of World War II a year later, he volunteered for service in the Navy and became a member of the third officer training class in Naval Avionics at Quonset Point, Long Island. While serving in the Navy, Chrysler met Norfolk, Virginia, native Jean Ester Outland, whom he married in 1945. A previous marriage to Marguerite Sykes had ended in divorce.

By the early 1940s, Walter Chrysler established himself as a preeminent collector. Adventurous in his acquisitions, he claimed he often "bought against fashion." This approach permitted him to obtain, for example, superior large-scale French and Italian paintings now recognized and appreciated for their importance. Of particular renown is the comprehensive 8,000-piece collection of glass, rich in holdings of Art Nouveau and 19th-century American art glass. Chrysler was an acquaintance of Long Island neighbor Louis Comfort Tiffany, and the elderly master's beautiful works inspired Chrysler to collect these delicate objects.

Following the sale of the Chrysler Building in 1956, Chrysler retired from an active role in business to devote his time completely to the arts. He settled his vast holdings into a public space in 1958 with the founding of the Chrysler Art Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
The efflorescence of paintings, sculpture, artifacts and glass soon outgrew its limited quarters in a 19th-century church, however, and Chrysler began seeking a new home for the works. After visiting dozens of localities, he accepted an offer in 1971 from the city of Norfolk, where his wife still had longstanding ties.

"What had been the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences became the Chrysler Museum," wrote The New York Times' Russell. "And, in 1971 he made the gift that is one of the strongest and most various ever given at any one time by a single individual to an American museum."
After serving as director of the institution from 1971 through 1976, Chrysler chaired the Board of Trustees from 1976 through 1984. He was named chairman emeritus in 1984. Chrysler's abiding love of books was evinced during his tenure as director when he purchased for the Museum the London library of the esteemed gallery of M. Knoedler & Company.

Mrs. Chrysler, who shared her husband's passion for printed matter, was instrumental in the development of The Chrysler Museum Library, which now boasts more than 40,000 volumes. Mrs. Chrysler died in 1982 and the library was renamed The Jean Outland Chrysler Library. Chrysler's deep interest in the Museum continued undiminished after his wife's death. Although he maintained a New York residence, he also had a home near the Museum.

Chrysler also was an active member of the Virginia Opera Company board of directors. In his last years he focused his attention and energy on the Music Library and Musical Instruments Museum, which he founded in 1980. With the same enthusiasm he devoted to fortifying the institution's art library, he assembled a 10,000-volume library of musical literature, a collection of 400,000 recordings ranging in style from classical to jazz, and an extensive assortment of musical instruments.

For his support of the arts in Norfolk, Chrysler was named the First Citizen of the Arts in 1980 by the Metropolitan Arts Congress of Tidewater, Inc. In 1985 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Old Dominion University.

Chrysler died in Norfolk, on September 17, 1988, after a long struggle with cancer. The Virginian-Pilot newspaper wrote of Chrysler after his death, "The museum bears his name, but his mark, perhaps indelible, is upon the region." Added Chrysler Museum Board of Trustees President Roy B. Martin, Jr., "Chrysler provided what is probably the most valuable gift that the people of Hampton Roads have ever received. It certainly showed the brilliance of the man in the field of art."