Personalized
Friendship, Celebration, Gratitude

October 19, 2016 - January 7, 2017

Including Walter Darby Bannard, Norman Bluhm, Lee Bontecou, Jack Bush, Anthony Caro, Richard Diebenkorn, Piero Dorazio, Friedel Dzubas, Herbert Ferber, Caio Fonseca, Helen Frankenthaler, Nancy Graves, Philip Guston, Conrad Marca-Relli, Knox Martin, Robert Motherwell, Kenneth Noland, Frank O’Cain, Jules Olitski, Ray Parker, Larry Poons, Susan Roth, and John Walker.

Essay by Karen Wilkin

Personal collections are portraits. Not only do they show us the aesthetic values of the individuals who made the selections, but they can also tell us something about the times they lived in, the circles they frequented, and their friendships. Perhaps the most revealing works, in terms of telling us about relationships, are those not purchased, but rather, given by the artist to the collector or exchanged with a colleague. There are many reasons for such gifts - friendship, celebration, or gratitude - and the works offered are frequently specially intimate and personal. Unlike works chosen from exhibitions or even from the studio, these unsolicited donations often can tell us as much about the artist as about the recipient, providing testimony to generosity, collegiality, and often deep connections.

All of the works in this exhibition were gifts from their makers to their friends and colleagues. Many of them are inscribed. Some were presented (and sometimes made) to mark special occasions - weddings, anniversaries, the birth of children. Some were expressions of thanks to critics or curators from artists who felt they had "gotten" their work in a meaningful way. Others were simply marks of affection and esteem. Together they bear witness to an intimate, non-commercial side of the art world, one driven not by monetary value and celebrity, but by personal relationships and private enthusiasms.