AFA Autumn 2019

Autumn 70 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com A M E R I C A N A R T Carolyn and Peter Lynch, Boston Public Garden in 2005. Photograph by Bill Brett. A Passion for BY DEAN LAHIKAINEN C arolyn and Peter Lynch shared an extraordinary life together, traveling widely and exploring American art and culture for almost half a century. Peter is best known for heading the Fidelity Magellan Fund, the best performing mutual fund in the world. With his late wife Carolyn, he established the Lynch Foundation which supports numerous educational and philanthropic endeavors. In their personal life, they were active in the groundswell of collecting American art that followed the United States Bicentennial in 1976. Highlights of their diverse collection are currently featured in an exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. A love of people, nature, and the places they have called home in Massachusetts and Arizona were the primary catalysts for their collecting. They also embraced architecture and design as influential factors in experiencing art in domestic settings. Freely integrating subjects, time frames, and media, the Lynches created lively, often unexpected, opportunities to explore the country’s artistic creativity, regional styles, and evolving traditions. The exhibition honors the life of Carolyn Lynch, who passed away in 2015, and her long devotion to PEM serving as a trustee, overseer, and founding chair of the American Decorative Art Visiting Committee. To honor her memory, Peter Lynch and his family generously gave the Selections from the Carolyn and Peter Lynch Collection text contunues on page 78