BEHIND THE SCENES

From time to time, we like to feature interviews with people who work behind the scenes, as volunteers or staff members, contributing their passion and energy to ensure the Museum's smooth functioning.

Interview with a Volunteer
Anne-Marie Kunzler led many lives before volunteering at the Museum last year. Born in Paris, she came to the U.S. in the 1960s, pursued an MBA with a special focus on international negotiation, worked as a financial officer, then as a library cataloguer at Yale University, and in both the for- and non-profit worlds as a financial manager. She currently sits on the Board of the Hemlock Society and is a judge in the dispute arbitration system at the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.

Although I volunteer only one day a week, I love working at the Dahesh. Its small size, the openness of the people, and the focus of the collection are very satisfying to me. When I was young, my mother dragged me to the Louvre when I could barely walk. This was just after the war, I was four years old and I still remember how shocked she was when I pointed to a statue, and, in a loud voice, exclaimed that his genitals were missing. My mother explained to passersby that I was very "observant."

Last year, my French education was put to good use when English translations of poetry from The Legacy of Homer exhibition catalogue needed double-checking. It pleased me that my academic skills have endured. But at heart, I am a cleaner-upper--I love to make order. So I was delighted when I could help catalogue the Museum's library, as well as its membership and collection files. If I could, I would clear up everything and make sure that order prevailed...everywhere! Perhaps that, too, is part of my French education.

Interview with a Longtime Staff Member
Thomas Sanders, the Museum's Security Manager, had just left Sotheby's when he started working as a guard at the Dahesh in 1996, soon after it opened at 601 Fifth Avenue. As the father of four daughters, one of whom loves to use Bargue's Drawing Course, Thomas and his family like to spend their leisure time at the Met, MoMA, and the Brooklyn Museum looking at art.

My favorite exhibition at the Dahesh has been French Artists in Rome (2003). It was great to see the high quality of the works by all the young prix de Rome winners, which everyone seemed to appreciate. In the permanent collection I have a few favorites: Tangerian Beauty. I bought the poster, had it matted and framed, and it now hangs in my home. People always comment on how beautiful she is. My second favorite is Gérôme's Sculpting Tanagra, and then Bauernfeind's large picture of Jaffa Harbor. I spend so much time with these pictures that I feel I know them.

I've learned a great deal over the years as the Museum has grown from welcoming 15 people a day to 250. While we still have some regulars, the visitorship has changed, and now there are more people from the neighborhood. Everyone I talk with says the shows are well put-together and focused. They like that, and, so do I!

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