Wheeler’s transformative powers

The news had been out awhile to some of the N.C. Museum of Art’s patrons and board members and those who know people who know people who know Larry Wheeler. But Wheeler, director of the museum for 24 years, now has made it official that he’ll be retiring a year from now, thus capping an even quarter-century at the museum.

From its beginnings downtown, the museum has become, at its home on Blue Ridge Road, the premier art venue in the South and certainly one of the very best in the United States. Wheeler, 74, didn’t get the museum to those heights by himself, but it’s hard to name anyone else in its history who has done more to push and pull and promote a museum that once was confined to a cramped building in downtown Raleigh and now has welcomed, literally, millions of visitors.

Today, its site spreads, but in an orderly fashion, over many buildings, and its various exhibitions are displayed in state-of-the-art ways. No museum in the country is more up-to-date in terms of presenting itself to visitors, and those visitors, particularly those from out of the state or from foreign countries, inevitably leave their experience impressed, and perhaps in some ways, surprised that such a facility exists in North Carolina with the support of the state and with patrons.

Wheeler, who is from Florida, is to be sure a sophisticated fellow who moves easily through the museums of the world, and knows them intimately, and knows “art” in all its forms. He’s happy to discuss Norman Rockwell – viewed as more illustrator than artist by many critics – and old masters and modern sculptors and painters with an intelligent assessment that is neither pretentious nor patronizing. He can find in almost any art form points of interest.

And he has not been afraid to open the museum to exhibits some might see as a bit daring – the well-received Porsche exhibition being a good example.

He’s also led the museum to remarkable finds. Because of Wheeler’s efforts, it hosts the largest exhibit of the work of Rodin of any museum between Philadelphia and California. Landing that exhibit – a donation of 30 works from the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Foundation – was a classic example of Wheeler at work, tirelessly pursuing a win some thought improbable. Likewise he’s supervised a museum expansion that has been viewed as spectacularly successful.

But just as important, if not as known about Wheeler, is his commitment to and support of making the state’s art museum a servant of the people of the state – all of them, and especially school children who visit. Larry Wheeler believes in that mission and it shows. This is a museum that reaches out to the people, and it works. In 1947, the museum got a state appropriation of $1 million to buy art, something that 70 years later is amazing in hindsight.

Many patrons, many administrators have guided the organization, but it’s likely few would dispute that Wheeler’s 25 years (by the time he retires) have been transformative. He has traveled to civic clubs across the state, to gatherings large and small of educators and legislators. And he has led the acquisition of some wonderful art that will enrich the lives of generations to come.

This story was originally published November 17, 2017 at 9:16 AM with the headline "Wheeler’s transformative powers."