IU's Eskenazi Museum acquires significant contemporary works

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, one of the U.S.’s leading university art museums, has acquired a crop of notable modern and contemporary artworks through multiple gifts and bequests, adding to its distinguished encyclopedic collection of more than 45,000 works, Art Daily reports.

The Museum’s new acquisitions include three photographs by renowned 20th and 21st century artists, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Vik Muniz; as well as works on paper by Norman Rockwell and Alex Katz.

Formerly known as the Indiana University Art Museum, the Museum was recently renamed following a $15M gift from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, two Indiana philanthropists and University alumni. Their gift will support a renovation of the museum’s iconic I.M. Pei-designed building, which will allow more of its collection to be on display to the public and enhance the visitor experience. As the Eskenazi Museum celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and looks forward to its upcoming renovation, these new acquisitions reaffirm the Museum’s long-term commitment to growing its permanent collection—particularly its modern and contemporary art holdings—and serving as an indispensable cultural resource for the university community, the city of Bloomington, and beyond.

The new acquisitions include:

• Hiroshi Sugimoto (Japan, 1948) Norwegian Sea, Vesteralen Island (1990), a gelatin silver print from Hiroshi Sugimoto’s most important Seascapes series is a gift to the Museum from Lee Marks and John C. DePrez, Jr.

• Robert Mapplethorpe (American 1946-1989) The Museum acquired Louise Nevelson (1986), Robert Mapplethorpe’s portrait of renowned sculptor Louise Nevelson, signed by both artists.

• Vik Muniz (Brazilian,1961) Following Vik Muniz’s retrospective at the Eskenazi Museum this fall, the Museum is acquiring the diptych George Stinney Jr. from Muniz's Album Series (2015).

• Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978) Norman Rockwell’s Breaking Home Ties (1954), a historic drawing of a young man going off to college and one Rockwell’s most popular cover designs, originally entered the collection of Indiana University’s School of Journalism in 1975 and has been transferred over to the Museum’s permanent holdings.

• Alex Katz (American, 1927) The Museum acquired two drawings by leading American artist Alex Katz: Joan (1967) and Vivien (2004).