5 / 242
HARRY C. MEYERHOFF
Harry Charles Meyerhoff was born February 14, 1929, in Baltimore,
Maryland, the younger of Jack and Bea Meyerhoff’s two sons. He
attended Lehigh University, graduating in 1950 with a degree in
Engineering and All-American honors in lacrosse, and went on to found
a successful home-building business in Baltimore with his brother
Robert. He had three children.
In the early 1960s, Meyerhoff began a successful racehorse operation, first
with his brother, and then in partnership with his second wife and son, Tom.
His involvement in racing continued for the rest of his life, crowned by the
three-year campaign of the Hall of Fame champion colt, Spectacular Bid. In
1975, Meyerhoff moved to the Easton, Maryland area to satisfy his
enjoyment of bird hunting and sailing, from whence he set out on several
trips to Bermuda and the Virgin Islands by sea. His love for the area was
further cemented when, in 1980, he took on a new venture in purchasing
and operating The Inn at Perry Cabin in St. Michaels, Maryland for the next
ten years.
Meyerhoff’s lifelong interest in the arts was sparked through his parents’
collecting habits in his youth, when they filled their homes with everything
from Han dynasty ceramics to paintings by Hans Hoffman. His own
collection began with contemporary art in the 1960s, before a shift in focus
to
fin de siècle
art in the 1970s. His first acquisitions in this area were prints
by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, quickly followed by the iconic works of
Alphonse Mucha. As his interest in Art Nouveau steadily grew, so did his
burgeoning compendium of works by its masters. Together with his main
acquisition advisor William J. Tomlinson, a renowned Baltimore art dealer
and appraiser, Meyerhoff accumulated an impressive collection spanning
the golden years of the Art Nouveau movement, one of the largest in the
world, which he hung salon-style throughout his homes so that they could
be seen and appreciated at all times.