FOGG ART MUSEUM GIVEN 110 SEVENTEENTH- - CENTURY DUTCH DRAWINGS FROM THE COLLECTION OF MAIDA AND GEORGE ABRAMS

Gift Reinforces Harvard's Leadership Role as Center for the Study of Old Master Drawings And Training of Curators, Scholars, Collectors and Writers in the Field

Cambridge, MA - June 23, 1999 - James Cuno, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums, announced today that the Fogg Art Museum has been given 110 works from the Maida and George Abrams Collection of seventeenth - century Dutch drawings, the finest and most comprehensive private collection of this material in the world. The collection is distinguished by its quality, including masterpieces by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Rembrandt van Rijn, Hendrick Goltzius and Jacques de Gheyn II; by its depth, which encompasses the full range of styles and iconographic interests; and by its range, in representing artists active in different parts of the Netherlands between 1580 and 1700, when Dutch artists had their greatest impact on the development of European art. With this gift, the Fogg Art Museum's collection of Dutch drawings now stands as the foremost in the U.S.

The works from the Abrams' collection will strengthen and significantly enhance the Fogg Art Museum's and Harvard University's teaching, research and professional training programs. Harvard pioneered the field of art history in the U.S. at the turn of the century with Charles Eliot Norton. In the post - war period, it lead the way in developing courses for Dutch art with Jakob Rosenberg and Seymour Slive, and many of Harvard's former graduate students now advance the field of seventeenth - century Dutch art from senior academic and museum positions throughout the country.

Since the 1930s, Harvard has also been a leading center for the study of old master drawings. The Fogg Art Museum's European drawings collection - the preeminent American university collection and one of the top five in a U.S. museum - has played a fundamental and profoundly influential role at Harvard. The collection has been developed by curators such as Agnes Mongan, Konrad Oberhuber and, since 1988, William W. Robinson, as well as scholarly collector - donors such as Paul J. Sachs, Charles A. Loeser, Grenville L. Winthrop, Philip Hofer and the Abramses themselves. The Museum's outstanding collections of French and Italian drawings, together with its newly - enhanced collection of Dutch drawings, will reinforce Harvard's leadership role internationally as a center for the study of old master drawings and training of curators, scholars, collectors and writers in this field.

Relying upon their extensive knowledge and own taste, and on a limited budget, Mr. and Mrs. Abrams have painstakingly built their comprehensive collection over a period of 40 years. They have long been dedicated supporters of the Harvard University Art Museums and, over the years, have donated close to 100 drawings to the Fogg. They have often loaned works from their collection to the Fogg for exhibitions, teaching and research, and have readily opened their Boston - area home to students, curators and other scholars.

In recognition of the Abrams' long - time support, Mr. Robinson now assumes the title of Maida and George Abrams Curator of Drawings.

Maida and George Abrams' gift to the Fogg Art Museum includes:

A number of important exhibitions have been drawn from Mr. and Mrs. Abrams' collection. The most recent exhibition, Seventeenth - Century Dutch Drawings: A Selection from the Maida and George Abrams Collection, was organized by the Fogg Art Museum and premiered at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, before traveling to The Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, the Albertina in Vienna and the Fogg. Mr. and Mrs. Abrams have also loaned works from their collections to exhibitions mounted by leading museums throughout the world.

Neil Rudenstine, President of Harvard University, stated:

George and Maida Abrams have been wonderful patrons and friends of Harvard University for many years. They are also students and scholars who have a deep and wide - ranging knowledge of the art they have collected. This peerless gift builds upon a tradition of scholarly collector - donors who have helped make the Harvard Art Museums a center of research, professional training and programming that is unique. Our art museums serve all of Harvard's students. As an integral part of University life, these museums have had an incalculable effect on generations of students. I want to thank Maida and George on behalf of everyone whose lives they have - and will - touch through this extraordinary gift.

Mr. Cuno noted:

Maida and George Abrams have enriched our collections in the most extraordinary way. They have provided the means with which we will be able to teach and encourage further research in Dutch old master drawings by offering students and scholars a collection of the greatest importance and highest quality. This is the tradition of the Fogg Art Museum, and by their gift, the Abramses have profoundly strengthened our very mission. This has happened only a few times in our history. That it has occurred now is testimony not only to the vision and generosity of the Abramses, but also to their friendship with and great admiration for our curator, William Robinson. For more than twenty - five years, Bill has studied and written about the Abramses' drawings. And like many of his fellow students at Harvard now in positions of leadership in our nation's museums and art history faculties, Bill was first introduced to Dutch drawings by the Abramses' collection. I would like to thank Maida and George for all they have done to encourage students like Bill to advance our knowledge of the great tradition of Dutch old master drawings. Their gift will ensure a bright future for the study of Dutch art and old master drawings at Harvard.

Mr. Robinson said:

I can speak from first hand experience of the importance having access to important works of art in inspiring a student and shaping a career. When I was a graduate student at Harvard, the Abramses shared their collection with me. To be able to hold in my hands and closely study these drawings, and to discuss them with the Abramses, is an experience that sent me on an odyssey that continues to this day. As a curator at the Morgan Library and subsequently at the Fogg, the Abramses continued to share their collection and passion without hesitation. Through this gift, their generosity of spirit will be even greater, if that is possible. We build our collections with the goal of fostering teaching and research as well as for public exhibition. This acquisition provides us with a broad range of works that presents a comprehensive picture of the art of drawing in the Netherlands during the seventeenth century.

Mr. Abrams stated:

Maida and I have always been committed to making our collection available to scholars and students by welcoming them into our home and lending works to institutions across the U.S. and Europe. In the sixties, only a few graduate students took a serious interest in Dutch art. We watched the number grow as that generation and the ones that followed produced dissertations on Dutch subjects. We want to continue to encourage future generations of scholars and, through them, spark the interest of the public in appreciating Dutch drawings and art. We can think of no better way to continue the tradition of sharing these magical works than to give them a permanent home at the Fogg Art Museum.

Mr. Abrams, a graduate of Harvard College class of 1954 and of Harvard Law School class of 1957, is a member of both the Visiting Committee and the Collections Committee of the Harvard University Art Museums, and serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee for Drawings. He is a Trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and a Fellow of The Pierpont Morgan Library. Mr. and Mrs. Abrams have donated works to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Pierpont Morgan Library, the National Gallery of Art and to the museums at Williams College, Dartmouth College, Rhode Island School of Design and Wellesley College.

Mrs. Abrams is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College. She serves as president and director of Very Special Arts, Massachusetts, an organization dedicated to bringing the arts to the special needs population of Massachusetts and for developing both national and local programs. She has received numerous national and state awards and an honorary doctorate from Wheelock College for her ongoing work with the arts and children and adults with disabilities.

The Harvard University Art Museums consist of the Fogg Art Museum (founded in 1891, opened in 1895), the Busch - Reisinger Museum (founded in 1902, now housed in Werner Otto Hall), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (opened in 1985). The Straus Center for Conservation is located in the Fogg. Through their collections and professional practice programs, as well as a wide array of special exhibitions, scholarly programming and publications, loans, and educational initiatives and programs, the Art Museums serve Harvard University as a catalyst for instruction and scholarship, as a training ground for future academic art historians and museum professionals, and as a general resource for its diverse and growing national and international audiences.

The collections of the Art Museums consist of more than 150,000 objects in all media, with works ranging from antiquity to the present and from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. The collections are divided among ten curatorial areas (Ancient and Byzantine Art and Numismatics; Architecture and Design; Asian Art; Busch - Reisinger Museum; Drawings; Islamic and Later Indian Art; Modern and Contemporary Art; Prints; Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts; and Photographs) and are comprehensive and encyclopedia with their areas. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are a unique resource in terms of breadth and quality, and are enhanced continually through gifts and acquisitions. Together, they comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.