David Rockefeller
David Rockefeller
David Rockefelleris an American banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Manhattan Corporation. He is the oldest living member of the Rockefeller family and family patriarch since July 2004. Rockefeller is also the only surviving child of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, and the only surviving grandchild of John D. Rockefeller and Laura Spelman Rockefeller...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionEntrepreneur
Date of Birth12 June 1915
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
I think of art as the highest level of creativity. To me, it is one of the greatest sources of enjoyment.
The role of a museum of modern art is to make a good selection and identify what we believe to be the coming movements, and that requires taste.
I learned more from my mother than from all the art historians and curators who have informed me about technical aspects of art history and art appreciation over the years.
I think of art as the highest level of creativity. I was exposed to it since I was very small.
The conventional notions of art have changed, and a lot of things done today are considered works of art that would have been rejected in the past.
I owe much to mother. She had an expert's understanding, but also approached art emotionally.
My own interest in art was because of my mother. My father didn't like contemporary art, so he didn't give her large sums to spend. So, she began buying prints and drawings. During my school days, I remember sitting in on many of the early meetings.
Mother liked beauty wherever she found it, and she found it in many different places, both in nature and in contemporary art. And that's where they pretty much parted company. Father... anything that was abstract would to him automatically be not very good.
I was brought up feeling that art is a very important part of one's life. It's something that I not only enjoy, it's something I can share with others.
Little by little, though, people recognized that it was very important to give contemporary artists a permanent place where their work would be kept.
If necessity is the mother of invention, discontent is the father of progress
Only once in my life was I on the edge of incivility.
I met many Russians over the years who were convinced my brothers and I were a cabal, pulling strings behind the scenes to shape American policy. The Soviets had no conception of how a pluralistic democracy works and believed elected officials, up to and including the president of the United States, were only figureheads acting out the roles dictated to them by the real "powers that be" - in this case, my family.
I am a passionate traveler, and from the time I was a child, travel formed me as much as my formal education.