ACQUISITIONS AT THE WHITNEY, NELSON-ATKINS AND THE HIGH ATLANTA

THIS WEEK BROUGHT A WONDERFUL SPATE OF ALWAYS-WELCOMED ACQUISITIONS ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM SEVERAL WELL KNOWN CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS.
ATLANTA'S HIGH MUSEUM OF ART RECENTLY REPORTED ADDING 300 WORKS TO ITS PERMANENT COLLECTION IN 209, INCLUDING TWO DONATED RENOIR PAINTINGS, 'WOMAN ARRANGING HER HAT(ca. 1890) AND STILL LIFE WITH APPLES (ca. 1890); 53 PHOTOGRAPHS BY PETER SEKAER, AND A PAINTING BY FOLK ARTIST WILLIAM HAWKINS, 'ALL ABOUT EVE', PARTIALLY GIFTED BY NEW YORK GALLERY OWNERS FRANK MARESCA AND ROGER RICCO. THE MUSEUM ALSO RECEIVED SEVERAL WORKS AS PART OF NEW YORK COLLECTORS HERBERT AND DOROTHY VOGEL'S "50 WORKS FOR 50 STATES" GIVEAWAY, INCLUDING WORKS BY RICHARD TUTTLE, WILLIAM ANASTASI AND STEPHEN ANTONAKOS.
THE WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, IN THE WAKE OF ITS POPULAR WILLIAM EGGLESTON RETROSPECTIVE, WHICH CLOSED IN JANUARY, HAS ACQUIRED 13 OF HIS IMAGES, THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS, INCLUDING THREE FROM THE SHOW. THE GIFT, FROM COLLECTORS JONATHAN SOBEL AND MARCIA DUNN, WHO HELPED FINANCE THE SHOW, NEARLY DOUBLES THE WHITNEY'S COLLECTION OF WORKS BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER. AMONG THEM ARE SEVERAL IMAGES FROM "LOST AND FOUND", EGGLESTON'S RARELY SEEN LOS ALMOS SERIES, THE WHEREABOUTS OF WHICH WERE LONG UNKNOWN BECAUSE NO ONE REALIZED THEY BELONGED TO CURATOR WALTER HOPPS, A CLOSE FRIEND OF EGGLESTON WHO DIED IN 2005.
AND THE NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART IN KANSAS CITY ANNOUNCED RECENTLY THAT A GIFT OF 34 WORKS OF AMERICAN INDIAN ART FROM LONGTIME MUSEUM PATRONS ESTELLE AND MORTON SOSLAND, WHO ALSO COMMISSIONED FOR THE MUSEUM LAWN 15 YEARS AGO THE ICONIC CLAES VAN OLDENBURG AND COOSJE VAN BRUGGEN SHUTTLECOCKS.