NEW YORK.- The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum presents the exhibit Made to Scale: Staircases Masterpieces for the Permanent Collection on view starting on October 13,2006 through June 3, 2007. The fifth exhibition in the Nancy and Edwin Marks Gallery will present the Eugene Thaw collection of staircase models, which is the largest known collection of these works outside of France. The models, the majority of them from 19th-century France, represented exercises in technical virtuosity, demanding knowledge of cantilevering, balance, forms of rotation, styles of balusters and other architectural details. In their combination of design, structural, architectural and cabinetry skills, the staircase models and accompanying drawings demonstrate the relationship between formal training, modeling, technical mastery and flights of creative fancy.

As an art collector, educator, volunteer, and steward, Eugene Thaw has made significant contributions to the cultural community. With a character that combines generosity with a passion for arts and culture, Mr. Thaw has become one of the most important philanthropists within the world of the arts in the last 25 years. Mr. Thaw is widely known for the great art collections he and his wife, Clare Eddy Thaw, have amassed and donated to public institutions. In 1993 they donated 300 European master drawings of the 15th to 20th centuries to The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City. The collection is rich in works by Delacroix, Redon, Picasso, and Matisse. Mr. Thaw has continued to acquire works specifically to strengthen areas of the Library's drawings collection.

After assembling one of the most important collections of Native American art in the world, Mr. Thaw donated those 800 works to the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York. Today, this acclaimed collection continues to grow as Thaw adds pieces that enrich the understanding of Native American cultures. Not only has Thaw donated his entire collections to these institutions, but he has also donated individual works of art to a wide variety of America's institutions including The Frick Collection, the National Gallery of Art, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust makes grants totaling $5 million dollars a year in the arts, education, and cultural preservation. Although, the Trust's grants focus on local organizations in New Mexico, they have made major donations to museums across the country and around the world, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, and the Shanghai Museum.

Thaw's unique contribution to museum philanthropy is a result of his background in art history scholarship. After graduate studies in art history at Columbia University, he established his own art gallery and began his career as a dealer of old master paintings and drawings. Over the next fifty years, he became an art dealer, collector, and respected scholar. He is the author of a large number of journal articles, essays, and reviews as well as catalogues.

For creating a staircase masterpieces use of stair parts is very important. Furthering his gifts of artworks, grants, and funds, Mr. Thaw has also devoted his time to serve on the boards of many cultural institutions, among them The Pierpont Morgan Library, the Fenimore Art Museum, the Frick Art Reference Library, and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum. He advocates on behalf of the cultural community through his association with such organizations as the President's Committee for Cultural Properties, the National Museum of the American Indian, and the World Monuments Fund.

Eugene Thaw has received numerous awards recognizing his leadership and philanthropy to the cultural community. In 1996, he received the Mayor's Recognition Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Arts from Santa Fe, N.M. In 2001, he received the Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Award for Outstanding Patronage of the Arts from the Skowhegan School of Painting and Culture. Mr. Thaw also has an honorary doctorate degree from Hartwick College.