COLLECTIONS HIGHLIGHTS

Each year, in keeping with the museum’s mission and collections development goals, the JSMA’s curators and director identify artworks for addition to the permanent collection. We are deeply grateful to donors who offer gifts from their private collections, acquire works from artists or galleries on our behalf, and/or make purchases possible by contributing to the museum’s dedicated acquisition funds (some of which are endowed, but most of which are not) that allow us to pursue selected purchases. Curators’ conversations with artists, gallerists, collectors, and researchers, as well as with their museum colleagues in collections management and education, and with University faculty and instructors inform our selections. As we continue important discussions about diversity and representation in the permanent collection, we anticipate further growth in underrepresented areas. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of the JSMA Collections Committee, and to the input of UO faculty across disciplines for whom the permanent collection provides invaluable teaching opportunities, we continue to develop and refine our strategic vision for acquisitions.

Between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2021, we grew our collection by 454 art objects and 14 archival items, including paintings, sculpture, graphics and other works on paper, silverwork, decorative arts, ceramics, textiles, artists’ tools, and more. Several of these represent our core collection strengths of Asian, American, Pacific Northwest, and Latin American art—in many cases, the JSMA’s first works by established artists, including Judy Cooke (American, b. 1940), Raymond Saunders (American, b. 1924), Lewis Watts (American, b. 1946), KUNIYOSHI Yasuo (Japanese, 1889-1953), ZAO Wou-ki (Chinese, 1920-2013), and SHIN Sang-ho (Korean, b. 1947). In 2019, JSMA purchased its first works from Crow’s Shadow Institute of the Arts: lithographs by Natalie Ball (American, Black, Modoc and Klamath, b. 1980) and Vanessa Renwick (American, b. 1961). One goal of the JSMA’s collections development plan has been to acquire more works by Chicanx artists. The museum has very few works that professors can use to teach ancient indigenous art of Mexico; with this in mind, in 2020 we purchased Luna Ilena by Ester Hernández (Mexican-American, b. 1944), which features one of the most important Aztec sculptures known today—Coyolxauhqui, the moon goddess—and were able to exhibit this print soon after in Entre mundos: Memory and Material.

We also expanded our holdings by several artists with long histories with the JSMA, including Rick Bartow (American, Mad River Band Wiyot, 1946-2016), Pierre Daura (Catalan-American, 1896-1976), Anne Kutka McCosh (American, 1901-94), Jack McLarty (American, 1919-2011), Mark Tobey (American, 1890-1976), SEKINO Jun’ichirō (Japanese, 1914-88), MAKI Haku (Japanese, 1924-2000), Masami TERAOKA (Japanese-born American, b. 1936), and Roger Shimomura (JapaneseAmerican, b. 1939).

In 2021, the PhotoAlliance Board of Directors gifted a group of 53 photographs made between 1968 and 2016 representing the work of 46 different artists working in Afghanistan, Canada, Cuba, India, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Mali, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, the United States, and Vietnam. This selection of works addresses several themes important to the JSMA’s collections development goals and academic mission: individual aesthetics, conceptual-based work, environment and landscape, portraiture, and social justice.

Gifts of European art, such as a collection of nineteen etchings by Dutch genre artist Adriaen van Ostade (161085) and three illustrations from Salvador Dalí’s (Spanish, 1904-89) The Divine Comedy, increased representation of European art and opened up new possibilities for teaching. The Dalí works were included in Salvador Dalí: illustrator, printmaker, storyteller in the MacKinnon Gallery.

It is always exciting when our exhibitions lead to acquisitions. Our Winter 2020 exhibition Roger Shimomura: By Looking Back, We Look Forward resulted in the acquisition of one painting and five prints by the artist. Works by printmaker Mildred Bryant Brooks (American, 1901-95), including nine etchings that were gifted to the collection from the artist’s family in 2019 and 2020, were the focus of Mildred Bryant Brooks: The Art of Etching, our first fullydigital exhibition (https://jsma.uoregon.edu/MildredBryantBrooks).

A large percentage of the permanent collection, including most of new acquisitions, is available for viewing in our online searchable database at https://jsma.uoregon.edu/jsma-collections.

If you would like to support JSMA acquisitions, please visit: www.uofoundation.org/JSMAAcquisition