Great Buys: Museum Purchases
Laylah Ali, Untitled (Red Figure with Hat), 2002, gouache and colored pencil on paper, 11 3/4" x 8 1/4", Museum Purchase with funds provided by James and Audrey Foster 2003.7
Dewey Family Gallery
October 8, 2005 – September 2006
Exhibition Opening: Friday, January 27, 2006 from 6 – 9 pm
Ten years after establishing the Art Acquisition Fund, the Museum celebrates with an exhibition selected from the many purchases made since that time. DeCordova has been a collecting institution since its opening in 1950. For many years, however, no restricted purchase fund existed for the acquisition of art. Instead, money had to be raised each time an artwork was purchased, and most works for the collection were acquired through generous gifts from collectors and artists. With the establishment of the fund, DeCordova has become more pro-active in its acquisitions of the work of contemporary New England artists.
Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo has selected more than 40 artworks by 36 New England artists. The exhibition includes paintings, works on paper, sculpture, and photography by the following artists: Ahmed Abdalla, Laylah Ali, Elizabeth Awalt, Doug Bosch, Harriet Casdin-Silver, Allan Rohan Crite, Frank Egloff, Sean Foley, Authur Ganson, Gregory Gillespie, Lyn Hayden, Steve Hollinger, Howard Johnson, Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick, Aida Laleian, Annette Lemieux, Sandy Litchfield, Jane Masters, Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, Michael Mazur, Joyce McDaniel, Laura McPhee, Abelardo Morell, Maud Morgan, John O’Reilly, David Ortins, Greg Parker, Roberta Paul, Scott Peterman, Scott Prior, Daniel Ranalli, Janice Redman, Dana Salvo, William Shattuck, and Arnold Trachtman.
