KALAMAZOO, MICHIGAN.- A new exhibition at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts surveys work from the one of the most respected corporate art collections in the country. “In Good Company: Selections from the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Art Collection” opens at the KIA on Saturday, December 11, and continues through Sunday, February 20, 2005.

The exhibition offers a chance to see artwork ordinarily found in the workplace, said Lisa K. Erf, director of the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Art Collection. “These objects are highlights from a larger collection that originated more than 30 years ago as a pioneering concept in corporate culture: to use museum-quality artwork not just as decoration, but to create a thought-provoking, stimulating environment.”

The collection includes paintings, sculpture, works on paper, textiles and cultural artifacts. The pieces in the KIA exhibition are not limited to a specific style or era, said Erf. “Each selection was based on the strength of the voice of the individual artist and the dialogue created by art objects in proximity with each other.”

The 40 pieces, acquired from around the world, range from ancient to contemporary. Highlights of the exhibition include: an Etruscan helmet, the oldest object in the Bank One collection, dating from the 6th century BCE; “Thangka of the Paradise of Padmasambhava,” an Eastern Tibetan painting from the 17th century; “Barn and Haystack Behind Row of Willows” (1905), a painting by Piet Mondrian, one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art; a bronze work by acclaimed French sculptor Auguste Rodin, “The Mighty Hand” (1885); a large-scale collage by Romare Bearden, “Interior with Profiles” (1969); and a photograph by Ansel Adams, “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico” (c. 1941, c. 1975).

“In Good Company” is sponsored by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (formerly Bank One). It is the first exhibition to provide an overview of this renowned corporate art collection.
The exhibition is free of charge and open during normal gallery hours at the KIA: Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (and until 8 p.m. on Thursday), and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.