COLLECTIONS AND ACQUISITIONS
Left: Oli Sihvonen Dialogue Yellowblue,1964 oil on canvas, 52 x 52 in. Albuquerque Museum purchase, 1981 General Obligation Bonds. Below: Frederick Hammersley, Clout, 1989, lithograph on paper, 12x16 in, Albuquerque Museum, The Urban Enhancement Trust Fund Committee. Right: Diego Romero, Mayans from Mars, pottery bowl, 5.5. x 11 in diameter Albuqueruque Museum purchase.
Building a Collection
An inside look at how curators decide what belongs in the Museum.
T
HE ALBUQUERQUE
MUSEUM’S 10,000 WORKS
OF ART celebrate many cultures and aesthetic traditions.
Albers had a profound influence on New
collection based on the Museum’s plan.
Mexican artists Frederick Hammersly and
“As curators, we don’t focus on our per-
Oli Sihvonen, among others.
sonal interests,” says Curator of Art Josie
When a curator joins the Museum staff,
Lopez. “We have to be broader-thinking
Curators select artworks for a reason,
they bring with them their own interests,
and determine how we traverse the future
and often they have to have prescience
but also the commitment to grow the
direction of the collection.”
about what might be interesting for future generations. The collection reflects the evolution
THE FOURTH AND FINAL BOOK in the Albuquerque Museum Collection
of the Museum, the collections plan,
Guide series, "Common Ground," contains images of more than 300 objects
and what future generations might
and provides an overview of the permanent collection. The book serves to
want to know about our current world.
answer the questions: What’s the real New Mexico? How does our culture in-
It also links those who have influenced
fluence art? It includes input from Museum Director Andrew Connors, Curator
New Mexican artists. For example, the
of Art Josie Lopez, Ph.D., Lacey Chrisco, former Museum Director Jim Moore,
Museum owns prints and paintings by
and former Curator of Art, Ellen Landis. Available at the Museum Store.
German abstract artist Joseph Albers. 4
SUMMER 2020
Art. History. People.
