An Eye for Excellence: Twenty Years of Collecting

As the Clark Art Institute celebrates its sixtieth year, the exhibition Eye for Excellence: Twenty Years of Collecting not only demystifies why and how the Clark collects works of art, but also examines the growth of the museum’s collection over the past two decades. The exhibition focuses on some of the museum’s finest acquisitions from 1995–2015, how these objects came into the Clark’s collection, and the stories of discriminating donors and collectors whose private collections are now held by the Clark. The exhibition includes drawings, photographs, decorative arts, sculpture, and books. 

 

The Clark has received a number of transformative donations and bequests of collections gathered by discerning collectors. Among these collections are the Burrows Collection of American Silver, The Albert and June Lauzon Collection of Early American Blown Glass, the Manton Collection of British Art, and the Martucci Collection. While these gifts enhanced the Clark’s holdings considerably, recent donations of single objects have also added new and important dimension to the permanent collection. For example, in 2014 Dr. Heinrich Medicus donated a painting by Odilon Redon called Woman with a Vase of Flowers, a significant addition to the Clark’s post-Impressionist French paintings; in that same year, Susan Montgomery Howell donated Winslow Homer’s rare commissioned portrait Charles Prentice Howland, which had remained in her family since 1878.

An Eye for Excellence: Twenty Years of Collecting is generously supported by members of the Curators, Director’s, and Sterling Circles of the Clark Society.