Harvard University Art Museums Acquire 30 Contemporary American Works in Honor of Neil and Angelica Rudenstine

Works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly and Sol LeWitt Acquired through Gifts from Artists and Support from Art Museums Patrons

Acquisitions Advance Harvard University Art Museums’ Commitment to Modern and Contemporary Art

See coverage with images from the Harvard Gazette

Cambridge, MA (May 4, 2001)—The Harvard University Art Museums announced today the acquisition of twenty-nine drawings and one painting by leading contemporary American artists in honor of Neil Rudenstine, retiring president of Harvard University, and his wife Angelica, an art historian and curator. These acquisitions are made possible through gifts from the artists in combination with generous support from numerous patrons and the Art Museums’ Margaret Fisher Fund. Acquired in recognition of the Rudenstines’ support for the Harvard University Art Museums’ role as the world’s leading academic art museum, the group includes works by Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, Ellsworth Kelly, Sol LeWitt, Brice Marden, Joel Shapiro, Richard Serra, and Ellen Phelan. These works significantly contribute to the Art Museums’ continuing endeavor to expand their growing collection of modern and contemporary art and to reinforce their position as a major center for scholarship in this field.

Among the works acquired are the first drawings by Johns, Lichtenstein, and Kelly to enter the Art Museums’ collections. Also included are important groups of drawings by Marden and Shapiro and a drawing by Serra that complement other noteworthy works by these artists in the collections. A wall drawing by Sol LeWitt is a major addition to the Museum’s rich holdings of that artist’s work. A painting by Ellen Phelan joins a drawing by the artist already in the collections.

"We are deeply grateful to Neil and Angelica Rudenstine for their unwavering support of the Art Museums," said James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "It is with great pleasure that we join together with many of the Rudenstines’ favorite artists and leading patrons of the Art Museums to create new opportunities for teaching and research through these acquisitions. The addition of these 30 important works to our contemporary holdings is a very fitting way to honor the Rudenstines’ long-standing commitment to scholarship and the arts."

All of the artists represented in the acquisitions know the Rudenstines personally and have participated in this initiative to honor the Rudenstines and their work on behalf of the Art Museums. Several patrons, including Agnes Gund and Daniel Shapiro, and Sarah-Ann and Werner H. Kramarsky, also provided support for the acquisitions, recognizing how the Rudenstines’ involvement has helped foster new opportunities for scholarship and programming at the Art Museums.

During their ten-year tenure at Harvard, Neil and Angelica Rudenstine have been champions of the Art Museums. Neil Rudenstine has been committed to increasing University-wide collaboration and developing new programs that span traditional academic disciplines. Angelica Zander Rudenstine is a respected art historian who was the lead curator of the 1994–96 Mondrian retrospective organized by the National Gallery of Art. Mr. Rudenstine retires from his position as president of Harvard University on June 30, 2001.

The works presented in honor of the Rudenstines will provide important new platforms for research and scholarship on the development of American art in the period following World War II. Five Ellsworth Kelly drawings from the early 1950s demonstrate the evolution of the artist’s unique approach to abstraction. These five drawings were previously featured in the Fogg Art Museum’s exhibition Ellsworth Kelly: The Early Drawings, 1948–1955. The works have remained in the artist’s personal collection until now. The acquisition also includes Jasper Johns’s 1995 drawing 0–9, and Roy Lichtenstein’s 1980 drawing Reclining Nude.

The Harvard University Art Museums’ drawing collection is the finest and most comprehensive of any university art museum in the United States, and ranks among the most important public collections in this country. Many of the works included in this acquisition build upon existing strengths in the collection. The Sol LeWitt wall drawing from 1972 joins a wall drawing already held by the Museums, installed in the lobby of the Sackler Museum. Four of LeWitt’s important 1974 Incomplete Open Cube Drawings, as well as a large 1995 gouache, Wavy Brushstrokes, are also among the 29 acquired drawings. Added to the Museums’ existing holdings of LeWitt’s works, these new acquisitions will help make the Art Museums one of the primary resources for scholarship on this seminal figure in late-twentieth-century art history.

A 1993 drawing by Richard Serra joins earlier and later examples of this artist’s drawings in the Fogg Museum’s collection, adding to its variety and comprehensiveness. A series of ten important Joel Shapiro gouache drawings complement the Art Museums’ current collection of works by this artist, affording the Museum an excellent representation of works spanning Shapiro’s career. Five of Bruce Marden’s Untitled Work Book drawings join eight other drawings by the artist already in the Drawing Department.

The Harvard University Art Museums’ commitment to modern and contemporary art stretches back to the 1930s, when the Harvard Society for Contemporary Art, as well as the Busch-Reisinger Museum, began hosting a series of significant exhibitions of contemporary art and acquiring important examples for their collections. This commitment to modern and contemporary art continues to be a priority for the Art Museums, which established a Department of Modern and Contemporary Art in 1997. The acquisition of these 30 major examples of contemporary American art in honor of the Rudenstines provides an exceptional resource for continuing the Museums’ commitment to increased research and scholarship in modern and contemporary art.

The Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the leading arts institutions in the United States and the world. It is distinguished by the range and depth of its collections, its groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of its staff. For more than a century, it has been the nation’s premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and is renowned for its seminal and ongoing role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

The three Harvard University Art Museums – the Fogg Art Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum – are all outstanding institutions in their respective fields. The Fogg also houses the Straus Center for Conservation, a leader in the research and development of scientific and technology-based analysis of art. The 150,000 objects in the Art Museums’ collections range in date from ancient times to the present and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each Museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its areas of focus.

As an integral component of the Harvard University community, the Art Museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study and to their lives at and after Harvard. The Art Museums welcome the public to experience the collections and special exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs.

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; Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts; Prints; and Photographs) and are encyclopedic within those areas. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are a uniquely broad and rich resource that is continually enhanced through gifts and acquisitions. Together, the holdings of the three museums comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.

The Straus Center for Conservation is the oldest fine arts conservation treatment, research, and training facility in the United States. The Center specializes in the conservation of paintings, sculpture, decorative objects, historic and archaeological artifacts, and works of art on paper. Its team members are pioneers in developing new applications of digital imaging in conservation. The Center is also fully equipped to support state-of-the-art facilities with a comprehensive range of analytical services.