New art exhibition to feature gifts made to the permanent collection
General

New art exhibition to feature gifts made to the permanent collection

  • 15 November 2007
  • 2 min read

Patrimoine: Legacy of Donors

Gifts to the Permanent Collection

from Wichita Falls Donors

 

and the First Forty Acquisitions

by the Museum's Collection Committees

1970 - 1975

 

Exhibition dates: November 16 through December 22, 2007

 

 

 

Patrimoine is the third in a series of exhibitions celebrating the 40th anniversary year of the Wichita Falls Museum of Art at Midwestern State University.  This exhibition is curated from the museum's permanent collection and its foundation established by the Legacy of Donors.

 

The exhibition is presented in two parts.  One section is a survey of gifts from community collectors, donors and supporters.  Most of the objects on display are from individuals or families, but local institutions and businesses are also represented in this presentation.  Rare pre-Columbian and Native American artifacts are presented with European and Asian works of art from the collection.  The timeline of these donations also chart the maturation of the collection and the philosophies established by the museum's Collection Committees; the more recent gifts from donors complying with and enhancing the museum's mission of collecting and exhibiting American art.

 

The parallel portion of the exhibition is a presentation of the initial forty purchases, this being the fortieth year of the museum, by the museum's Collection Committees from 1970 to 1975.  In an excerpt from The Catalog of the Collection published in 1978, Pat Jones, the Chairman of Art Acquisitions 1972 - 1978 states, "The guidelines proposed by the Committee and accepted by the Board of Trustees, determined that the primary direction of the Museum's permanent collection would be toward an historical survey of American art, through the feasible means of purchasing original graphics, or prints."  The Committee's purchase section of the exhibition is a visual recreation of a five year period of research, funding and acquisition. 

 

A two part exhibition that shares many stories, Patrimoine: Legacy of Donors is about unity and community.  It is a celebration of 40 years of patronage and cultural heritage.