Works by Olafur Eliasson, Jacob Lawrence, Joan Mitchell, and Georgia O’Keeffe, to name just a few, are among a donation of almost 1,150 pieces to Maine’s Colby College Museum of Art. The donors, Peter and Paula Lunder, estimate the value of the group of works at $100 million. As part of the gift, the museum will launch the Lunder Institute for American Art.
The gift spans some 500 years of art history, including a 1501 Albrecht Dürer engraving as well as very recent works by artists like Julie Mehretu. Among the many others included in the cache are Mary Cassatt, Jasper Johns, Nina Katchadourian, Vincent van Gogh, Ai Weiwei, and James McNeill Whistler.
“For many years, we have been inspired and impressed by Colby’s teaching mission and the many ways that the museum is deeply integrated into the curriculum to become a vibrant part of College life,” said the couple in a statement.
Peter Lunder, a Colby graduate, is a former Dexter Shoe Company president. He has also served on the board of commissioners at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the couple has endowed curatorial posts at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC.
The whopping gift is not the first of its size to come to the museum from the same family. In 2007, the couple donated a group of works also reportedly appraised at $100 million which included works by Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, John Singer Sargent, and Sol LeWitt.
Founded in 1959, the Colby College Museum of Art boasts a collection numbering over 9,000 objects and emphasizing American masters, as well as contemporary American art.