Neuberger Museum of Art Announces Recent Acquisitions
Among the new acquisitions are works by Louisa Chase, Engels the Artist, Cleve Gray, Ignacio Iturria, Alfredo Jaar, Lilla LoCurto & Bill Outcault, Margot Lovejoy, Allison Miller, Reuben Nakian, Joseph Stapleton, Jessica Stockholder, Fan Lee Warren, and Sophie von Hellermann.
“Collecting, supporting, and encouraging the work of living artists—especially those by artists we feature in our exhibitions—reflects the philosophy of our founding patron, Roy R. Neuberger,” said Dr. Fitzpatrick. “We are so pleased to be able to steward these objects as part of the Neuberger’s collection to ensure that they are enjoyed for years to come by our community.”
Among the works added to the collection as a result of exhibition projects, the anonymously donated Engels the Artist’s Once Was I was included in the monographic fall 2019 Neuberger exhibition Art Got Into Me and will appear again in the museum’s upcoming winter/spring 2021 exhibition Color and Motion, Ideas and Dreams: Modern and Contemporary Caribbean and South American Art from the Collection. According to Alex Gordon Curator for the Art of Americas Patrice Giasson, the work “encapsulates Engels’ ability to literally ‘sculpt’ the canvas, giving it a shape and texture that brings it to life.”
The Neuberger acquired Alfredo Jaar’s 2010 photographic prints Untitled (Gramsci) and Untitled (PPP), both of which were included in the exhibition Pier Paolo Pasolini: Subversive Prophet which opened in spring 2020 but had to close prematurely due to the pandemic. These two works by Jaar will be featured in the collection galleries when the museum reopens this year.
Eleven objects by Ignacio Iturria, created on site during an artist-in-residency in conjunction with his monographic fall 2017 Neuberger exhibition A Studio in the Gallery, have also come into the collection as gifts from the artist. “We are thrilled to be able to include works in the collection that were actually created inside our galleries,” said Fitzpatrick.
The artist-team Lilla LoCurto & Bill Outcault, whose work was shown at the museum in 2019 in their monographic project Much Madness is divinest Sense, have donated the chromogenic print Conformal Guyou L2sph(8/6)7_98 (1999), a key addition to the collection.
Louisa Chase’s 1980 painting Island and Jessica Stockholder’s 1990 assemblage Made of Two Elements were donated by long-time Neuberger supporters and former Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art Board Members Gilbert and Doreen Bassin. Island is an exceptional example of Chase’s experiments with landscape and abstraction in the 1980s. Made of Two Elements is a key example of Stockholder’s use of light as a material; as the artist has observed, “I like that there’s expectation embedded in material. By disrupting what’s expected, you reveal significance and structures of thinking that aren’t obvious otherwise.”
One of the signature works in the museum’s collection is Cleve Gray’s Threnody, a monumental site specific painting, but the Neuberger also has collected other objects by the artist, including Earth’s Echoes (1979), donated this past year by the Ben Heller Collection. Like founding patron Roy R. Neuberger, Heller was one of the most important collectors of the mid-20th century. The museum has also added a gift from Martin Peretz, Leda and The Swan (1981-82), the first from an edition of nine bronze sculptures by Reuben Nakian, expanding its holdings of the artist’s work.
Allison Miller’s Spinning Field and Spinning Table were purchased through the Basil Alkazzi Acquisition Fund. The artist will be a featured speaker during an In Conversation artist talk hosted by the Neuberger on Thursday, February 18, at 1:00pm; the program is part of the Daniel P. Paduano and Janet W. Prindle Lecture Series.
The mixed media work Scapegoat by Fan Lee Warren and the acrylic on canvas painting Shower Off by Sophie von Hellermann were donated by Purchase College President Emeritus Thomas J. Schwarz from his personal collection. Screen prints by the late Margot Lovejoy, an artist, mentor, and Professor Emerita of Art+Design at Purchase College, SUNY, are a gift from her family.
Finally, the most recent addition to the collection is Roger Shimomura’s Great American Muse #1, a gift from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, purchased by the Academy through its Hassam, Speicher, Betts and Symons Funds.
Many of these works will be on view in an exhibition of Recent Acquisitions planned for summer 2021.
The Neuberger Museum of Art opened on the campus of Purchase College, State University of New York, in 1974 with a core collection donated by Roy R. Neuberger, one of the greatest private collectors, philanthropists, and arts advocates of the twentieth century. Today, critically acclaimed exhibitions, tours, lectures, and interactive programs for patrons of all ages make the Neuberger a center of teaching and learning for all stages of life.
The museum will begin a phased reopening in late February to support in-person, course-related activities for Purchase College faculty and students. News of the Spring 2021 re-opening to the general public will be announced. In the meantime, continue to experience the Neuberger from home with virtual events and weekly activities at NEU To Do and NEU To Do for Kids.
Neuberger Museum of Art
735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, New York 10577
914.251.6100 | nma@purchase.edu | www.neuberger.org
Facebook: neubergermuseumofart
Twitter and Instagram: @neubergermuseum