And that happens because, however enlightened, the personal tastes of its founder had been broadened and refined over time. B.C. Holland, the late Chicago art dealer, used to say it takes at least a generation before a small museum begins to find its way. The Terra is just there now. Four years after the death of its founder, some exhibitions and programs have crept in that he probably would not have approved. And that is as it should be.
Every museum has to build on the past to avoid being stuck in it.
Little would be achieved by moving the Terra to Washington, which already has a museum devoted to American art among more showplaces that, taken together, offer greater depth and diversity than does Chicago. There it would be starting over on a scale that is just too small. Visitors who do not come with the founder's national fervor are not likely to have it created by the art on view. Several arguments exist for having a collection stay where it was built. Such decisions always have been a matter of conscience, and Chicago has lost a number of fine collections to other cities.