HIGH MUSEUM OF ART RECEIVES GIFT OF 90 WORKS OF ART

THE HIGH MUSEUM OF ART, ATLANTA, TODAY ANNOUNCED THAT IT HAS RECEIVED A MAJOR GIFT OF 90 PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES FROM THE ATLANTA-BASED WEST FOUNDATION'S 19tH CENTURY AMERICAN COLLECTION. THE DONATED WORKS INCLUDE 49 PAINTINGS AND 41 SCULPTURES, ESTABLISHING THE HIGH AS A MAJOR RESOURCE FOR 19th CENTURY AMERICAN ART. THE GIFT ENRICHES THE HIGH'S COLLECTION OF AMERICAN ART WITH IMPORTANT WORKS INCLUDING LANDSCAPES BY FREDERIC EDWIN CHURCH AND JASPER CROPSEY, PORTRAITS BY REMBRANDT PEALE AND WILLIAM SYDNEY MOUNT, AND SCULPTURES BY HIRAM POWERS AND CHAUNCEY BRADLEY IVES. BEGINNING 29.OCTOBER, THE NEWLY-ACQUIRED PAINTINGS AND SCULPTURES WILL BE ON VIEW WITHIN THE PERMANENT COLLECTION GALLERIES ON THE SECOND AND THIRD FLOORS OF THE STENT FAMILY WING. THE WEST FOUNDATION'S GIFT OF NEO-CLASSICAL SCULPTURES CONSISTS OF 41 MARBLE, PLASTER AND BRONZE WORKS. THE MAJORITY OF THE WORKS ARE LARGE SCALE, NEO-CLASSICAL MARBLES EXECUTED BETWEEN 1838 AND 1887, INCLUDING MAJOR WORKS BY WILLIAM WETMORE STORY, HIRAM POWERS, EDMONIA LEWIS, HARRIET HOMER, THOMAS BALL, RANDOLPH ROGERS AND THOMAS CRAWFORD. THE GIFT INCLUDES ICONIC OBJECTS THAT REPRESENT THE CHIEF D'OEUVRE OF AN ARTIST'S PRODUCTION, SUCH AS HIRAM POWERS' 'PROSERPINE', RANDOLPH ROGERS' 'NYDIA THE BLIND FLOWER GIRL OF POMPEII', AND HARRIET HOSMER'S 'THE SLEEPING FAUN'. FOUR HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL PAINTINGS WERE GIVEN IN HONOUR OF HIGH MUSEUM OF ART DIRECTOR EMERITUS GUDMUND VIGTEL. VIGTEL, DIRECTOR OF THE HIGH FROM 1963 TO 1991, WAS INSTRUMENTAL IN ESTABLISHING THE MUSEUM'S AMERICAN COLLECTION AND SERVED AS AN ADVISOR FOR THE WEST FOUNDATION COLLECTION. IN ADDITION TO THE FOUR HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL PAINTINGS, 45 OTHER PAINTINGS WERE ALSO GIVEN IN HONOUR OF VIGTEL. THE COLLECTION FEATURES 24 LANDSCAPES, NINE GENRE PAINTINGS, EIGHT FIGURE AND PORTRAIT PAINTINGS, AND FOUR STILL LIFE PAINTINGS. ALL BUT THREE WERE EXECUTED BEFORE 1900, WITH THE STRONGEST CONCENTRATION OF WORKS PAINTED BEFORE 1880.