GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.- The Grand Rapids Art Museum announced its exhibition, A Decade at the Center: Recent Gifts and Acquisitions. The exhibition closes out a year-long celebration of GRAM's tenth anniversary at its 101 Monroe Center location and features works of art and design acquired through gift and purchase from the last five years. A Decade at the Center will be on view at the Museum through April 28, 2019.
The exhibition features over 100 new additions to the Museum's collection, representing all areas in which GRAM collects, from 19th-century paintings to contemporary art, mid-century modern furniture to vintage photography, and rare Renaissance engravings to historical design objects. More than half of the works in the exhibition are on public view for the first time.
"The Grand Rapids Art Museum’s collection of more than 6,000 works is the heart of the Museum, and, just like the city it serves, has grown and transformed over the course of its more than 100-year history," commented GRAM Director and CEO Dana Friis-Hansen. "I invite you to explore the many new works on view for the first time in A Decade at the Center, and discover our collection year-round as it rotates on all three floors of the Museum."
The exhibition comprises recent Museum purchases, as well as gifts and promised gifts from numerous generous individuals and institutions. In some cases, these new acquisitions expand the Museum’s holding of works by particular artists, such as Mathias J. Alten, Andy Warhol, Lorna Simpson, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, and Richard Diebenkorn. Important artists new to the collection have also been acquired, including Adrian Esparza, Dawoud Bey, Carrie Mae Weems, and Jane Freilicher.
On view for the first time are several pieces from a major new gift of over 100 design objects from one of the premier American collectors. This generous gift will greatly expand the museum’s design holdings and better tell the story of West Michigan’s rich history as a leading center of design and manufacturing.
“GRAM’s commitment to exhibiting and collecting design and craft is illustrated by the inclusion of important works of furniture, ceramics, glass, and industrial design in A Decade at the Center,” commented GRAM Chief Curator Ron Platt. “The modern and contemporary design objects in the exhibition—ranging from furniture and lamps to tableware and electronics—marry function and beauty and show the power design has to enhance our daily lives.”
The oldest works in the exhibition are two engravings by Martin Schongauer from the 15th century, a promised gift of Cate and Sid Jansma Jr., founders of GRAM’s extraordinary Jansma Print Collection. Notable new contemporary works will be on view as well, including a print by American artist Kara Walker in her recognizable silhouette-style, a promised gift from Martin and Enid Packard, important long-time supporters of GRAM.
A Decade at the Center celebrates the crucial role of gifts in the Museum's ongoing effort to Concurrent and Future Exhibitions: build one of the most notable collections in the American Midwest. Since GRAM's inception in 1910, the generosity of its patrons has been crucial to building the permanent collection.
