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Martha Catherine <I>Codman</I> Karolik

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Martha Catherine Codman Karolik

Birth
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA
Death
21 Apr 1948 (aged 89)
Newport, Newport County, Rhode Island, USA
Burial
Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA Add to Map
Plot
John W Rogers Vault
Memorial ID
View Source
Martha Catherine Codman Karolik was a philanthopist and American art collector. She donated three major collections of early American furniture, paintings, and prints and drawings to the Museum of Fine Arts, which built a new wing to host it.

Martha Catherine Codman was born into a family whose wealth came from the Russian and China clipper trade, the only surviving child of John Amory Codman (1824-1886) and Martha Pickman Rogers (1829-1905). She grew up in Newport and Boston. She was the great-great-granddaughter of merchant Elias Hasket Derby, considered America’s first millionaire. In 1923 she published the journal of her ancestor, Catherine Willard, as Journal of Mrs. John Amory.

In 1907, Ogden Codman Jr. built what was later to be known at the Codman–Davis House in Washington, D.C., for his cousin Martha Codman. Codman took inspiration from the Château de Voisins, Louveciennes, Seine et Oise. The house is currently the official residence of the Ambassador of Thailand, and one of the few intact homes that Ogden Codman Jr. designed. This included a carriage house which now houses the Apex Night Club. Martha Codman sold the house in 1938.

In 1910 Ogden Codman designed "Berkeley Villa" (now Bellevue House), a Colonial Revival mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, for Martha Codman; later, the house belonged to Jane Pickens Hoving, an American singer on Broadway, radio and television for 20 years, who was married to Walter Hoving, owner of Tiffany & Company and Bonwit Teller. Ronald Lee Fleming, an urban planner, bought the house in 1999. Bellevue House was Ogden Codman's last project in Newport, and it now houses part of the American art collection that Martha Codman, alone at first and then with her husband, amassed.

On February 2, 1928, Martha Codman, scandalizing Boston society, married Maxim Karolik (1893-1963), an opera singer, who was notable as an art collector and donor. He was 35 years younger than she.

Martha Codman was a member of Art Association of Newport, Garden Club, Improvement Association, Newport Historical Society and Redwood Library.

Maxim Karolik bought 'Expulsion from the Garden of Eden' by Thomas Cole in 1944. Martha Codman donated the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1947. It has been in its collection ever since and can be seen on display in its galleries.

In 1939 the Karoliks donated their 18th-century collection of American paintings, furniture, silver and other examples of art to the Museum of Fine Arts, which built a wing for it. At the time it was valued at $400,000 ($7,037,321 in 2017 dollars). The Martha & Mazim Karolik Collection of American Paintings (1815-1865) is considered one of the most important collection of American paintings in public or private hands of that period.

The Karolik-Codman family papers (1714-1964) are kept at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Contributor: Elisa Rolle (48982101)
Martha Catherine Codman Karolik was a philanthopist and American art collector. She donated three major collections of early American furniture, paintings, and prints and drawings to the Museum of Fine Arts, which built a new wing to host it.

Martha Catherine Codman was born into a family whose wealth came from the Russian and China clipper trade, the only surviving child of John Amory Codman (1824-1886) and Martha Pickman Rogers (1829-1905). She grew up in Newport and Boston. She was the great-great-granddaughter of merchant Elias Hasket Derby, considered America’s first millionaire. In 1923 she published the journal of her ancestor, Catherine Willard, as Journal of Mrs. John Amory.

In 1907, Ogden Codman Jr. built what was later to be known at the Codman–Davis House in Washington, D.C., for his cousin Martha Codman. Codman took inspiration from the Château de Voisins, Louveciennes, Seine et Oise. The house is currently the official residence of the Ambassador of Thailand, and one of the few intact homes that Ogden Codman Jr. designed. This included a carriage house which now houses the Apex Night Club. Martha Codman sold the house in 1938.

In 1910 Ogden Codman designed "Berkeley Villa" (now Bellevue House), a Colonial Revival mansion in Newport, Rhode Island, for Martha Codman; later, the house belonged to Jane Pickens Hoving, an American singer on Broadway, radio and television for 20 years, who was married to Walter Hoving, owner of Tiffany & Company and Bonwit Teller. Ronald Lee Fleming, an urban planner, bought the house in 1999. Bellevue House was Ogden Codman's last project in Newport, and it now houses part of the American art collection that Martha Codman, alone at first and then with her husband, amassed.

On February 2, 1928, Martha Codman, scandalizing Boston society, married Maxim Karolik (1893-1963), an opera singer, who was notable as an art collector and donor. He was 35 years younger than she.

Martha Codman was a member of Art Association of Newport, Garden Club, Improvement Association, Newport Historical Society and Redwood Library.

Maxim Karolik bought 'Expulsion from the Garden of Eden' by Thomas Cole in 1944. Martha Codman donated the painting to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1947. It has been in its collection ever since and can be seen on display in its galleries.

In 1939 the Karoliks donated their 18th-century collection of American paintings, furniture, silver and other examples of art to the Museum of Fine Arts, which built a wing for it. At the time it was valued at $400,000 ($7,037,321 in 2017 dollars). The Martha & Mazim Karolik Collection of American Paintings (1815-1865) is considered one of the most important collection of American paintings in public or private hands of that period.

The Karolik-Codman family papers (1714-1964) are kept at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Contributor: Elisa Rolle (48982101)


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