Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller and the Rockefeller Collection

Born in New York City to an affluent family from Detroit who owned the Ferry-Morse Seed Company and Hooker Electrochemical Company, Blanchette Ferry Hooker (1909–1992) married John D. Rockefeller 3rd, the grandson of Standard Oil founder, John D. Rockefeller, in 1932. Blanchette shared many interests with her husband, including art and collecting. In 1949, she joined the Junior Council of the Museum of Modern Art and continued a lifelong involvement with the museum, serving as its president twice and as chair of the board.

In the early 1950s, after her husband was appointed to John Foster Dulles' Peace Treaty Mission to Japan, she became fascinated by Asia. Blanchette shared her husband's views that art could serve as a cultural bridge between Americans and Asians and, to gain a deeper understanding of Asian art, enrolled in Columbia University's East Asian Institute from 1954 to 1956. Later, she wrote, "I always felt sorry for John because he was doing the collecting while I was the one having the fun of learning about it." In the early 1960s, she and her husband began assembling a collection of Asian art that comprises the highest possible craftsmanship and artistry. Rather than a historical survey of the arts of Asia, the collection is one of masterpieces, one with an intentional focus on four principal cultures—Japanese, Chinese, Khmer, and Indian.

After JDR 3rd's death in 1978, Blanchette remained active at Asia Society, serving on the Asia Society Gallery (now Asia Society Museum) Advisory Committee (1959–1991), and expanding the permanent collection through additional gifts, a selection of which are on display here in celebration of Asia Society's 70th anniversary.