Thursday, April 14, 2005

The New York Times > Arts > Art & Design > MoMA to Receive Its Largest Cash Gift

We need to find a Rockefeller for the Tacoma Art Museum!
Sanjeev

The New York Times > Arts > Art & Design > MoMA to Receive Its Largest Cash Gift

MoMA to Receive Its Largest Cash Gift

By CAROL VOGEL

Published: April 13, 2005

David Rockefeller, chairman emeritus of the Museum of Modern Art, said yesterday that he had pledged $100 million toward its endowment - the biggest cash gift ever given to the museum.

Mr. Rockefeller said the gift was intended to shore up public programs at the Modern, which just completed an ambitious $858 million expansion that more than doubled its size.

Mr. Rockefeller, who is 89, said the museum would receive the money after his death. In the meantime, he said, he would give the Modern $5 million a year as if the money were already invested in the endowment.

"It seemed like the right time," he said during an interview in his Rockefeller Center office, filled with paintings and drawings by Gauguin, Picasso and Signac. "The museum is at a stage now where it has just acquired a new building and has never had a better reputation in the world."

The Modern's director, Glenn D. Lowry, said the gift would enable the museum to bolster its educational programs, including lectures and school initiatives, and would also help finance future exhibitions. The cost of organizing museum shows has soared in recent years because of the rising costs of shipping and terrorism insurance.

"It makes the impact immediate," Richard E. Salomon, a longtime trustee, said of the gift, which he helped Mr. Rockefeller structure so that the Modern could start receiving money immediately.

Mr. Salomon said he hoped the gift would spur the museum's other trustees, who were informed of it yesterday afternoon, to increase their donations.

The endowment is currently valued at about $475 million. Mr. Lowry said, "Our hope is that David's pledge will be matched, thus taking the museum above $900 million."

In a spirit of friendly competition, many of the Modern's trustees have donated vast amounts of cash and art since the museum embarked on its capital campaign for the new building seven years ago. About 10 have given upwards of $15 million apiece and have had spaces in the building named after them.

So far, officials said, the museum has raised $720 million of the $858 million for the building campaign.

Ronald S. Lauder, the museum's chairman for the past decade, is also its second-largest supporter, having given more than $65 million to the latest campaign alone. He has also donated works by Picasso, Matisse and Richard Serra.

The largest cash gift to an American museum is thought to be a $330 million bequest by the Texas philanthropist Caroline Wiess Law to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

Mr. Rockefeller noted that the Modern's last fund-raising campaign centered on construction and acquisitions, rather than on helping to expand the endowment to pay for the museum's programs and education.

Mr. Rockefeller has watched the museum grow from its inception. His mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, founded the Modern with her friends Lizzie P. Bliss and Mary Sullivan at a time when few people took modern art seriously. The museum was first housed in rented space in the Heckscher Building at Fifth Avenue and 56th Street and later in a town house on West 53rd Street and other buildings, many of them Rockefeller homes.

"My own interest in art was because of my mother," Mr. Rockefeller said. "My father didn't like contemporary art, so he didn't give her large sums to spend. So she began buying prints and drawings. During my school days I remember sitting in on many of the early meetings."

Over the years Mr. Rockefeller has been a major benefactor, giving or pledging works of art as well as cash. For the recent $858 million capital campaign, he donated $77 million in cash. In his lifetime he will have given either cash or pledges totaling $200 million, excluding 17 artworks - some promised, others given - that include paintings by Cézanne, Gauguin, Matisse and Picasso and drawings by Cézanne and Picasso.

Mr. Rockefeller said he saw the museum's growth as "evolving in a logical way." He also said he stood behind the board's decision to charge visitors $20, more than any other New York museum.

"I was an honorary member of the board and sat in on the meetings where this was discussed," he said. "We have programs for children, young people under 16, who can come in for free. We also have free Fridays. Our membership is $75, which includes free admission, so it doesn't take long to realize the benefits. I don't feel embarrassed by the $20. People who are not able to pay it have other ways of coming to the museum."

Mr. Lowry, the museum's director, said of the gift: "This will give us the kind of stability to do adventurous exhibitions and public programs. It gives us a kind of financial underpinning that means that instead of having to struggle, we can be more comfortable."

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

art show reception

Hello again all:
There will be a reception for my show on Tuesday, April 26th from 6 until 8pm (address below). Snacks and drinks are served; it would be great to see the docents there... you can help me stop people from touching the art!

Penny Grellier
Program Manager, Volunteer Services
Catholic Community Services Southwest
1323 S. Yakima Ave.
Tacoma, WA  98405
(253) 502-2708

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

short art show

Hi everyone:
I wanted to let you know I am having a show from April 13 (tomorrow) until May 11 in the 2nd floor gallery at Catholic Community Services (address below). A short duration but exciting for me, nonetheless. The gallery is open weekdays from 8am until 5pm. I will probably have an evening reception as well but still need to firm up the date and time for that. I have acrylic paintings and torn-paper collages on display. Hope you will stop by!

Penny Grellier
Program Manager, Volunteer Services
Catholic Community Services Southwest
1323 S. Yakima Ave.
Tacoma, WA  98405
(253) 502-2708

RE: Save the date!

Hi Docents,

 

If you are unable to open the “Save the Date” attachment try this one.

 

Shannon

 

Shannon Eakins

School Tour and Docent Coordinator

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x3016

F: 253.627.1898

www.TacomaArtMuseum.org

Become a Member Today!

-----Original Message-----
From: Sidney [mailto:rsidneycloud@comcast.net]
Sent: Monday, April 11, 2005 8:27 PM
To:
Shannon Eakins
Subject: Re: Save the date!

 

Shannon, Nothing happens when I try to open the attachment, It is blank. Sid

Monday, April 11, 2005

New York Public Library to Sell Major Artworks to Raise Funds

Asher B Durand's famous painting is up for sale ... hopefully the Wadsworth might acquire it to increase its holdings.
Regards
Sanjeev

The New York Times > Arts > Art & Design > New York Public Library to Sell Major Artworks to Raise Funds

New York Public Library to Sell Major Artworks to Raise Funds

The New York Public Library has decided to sell 19 works of art from its collection - including "Kindred Spirits," a widely admired landscape by the Hudson River School painter Asher B. Durand, and two seminal portraits of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart - so that it can better compete in acquisitions of important books and collections.

Sotheby's, which has been retained by the library, estimates that the works will sell for $50 million to $75 million. The transactions will be handled either privately or by public auction. Paul LeClerc, the library's president, said all of the money would go toward buying books, manuscripts and other works on paper and toward bolstering the library's endowment.

"We're not a museum," he said. "We don't have a staff devoted to paintings and sculptures. One of the thrills of running a great library is keeping up with the explosion of information. If we don't grow, we cannot maintain the claim that we are one of the greatest libraries in the world."

In the hope that many of the artworks can remain on public view in New York, library officials said, any New York institution that wishes to purchase a work will be given preferential payment terms. But it is unclear how much of a financial compromise officials are going to be willing to make to keep the artworks - paintings and sculptures by major American artists - in the area.

Art experts say the divestiture would be one of the largest sales of artworks by a major public institution in recent memory.

Over the last two decades, arts institutions in need of money have occasionally sought to part with valuable works to maintain their stated missions. For example, the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center sold of one of Leonardo's Codex manuscripts to Bill Gates for $30.8 million in 1994.

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Tacoma Art Museum Notes - Musuem Notes - Margaret Upshaw


Hello Fellow Docents

When you get your latest Tacoma Art Museum Notes quarterly Musuem
Notes - check out the Docent Profile with Margaret Upshaw ... there
is an excellent profile on her and quotes from her ... I'm sure lots
of people are going to call Shannon and sign up to join the docenting
program.

--
Regards,
Sanjeev Narang

***

email: ask (at) eConsultant dot com
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