In a big move forward for a small museum, the Bronx Museum of the Arts - which serves as the commissioner for the American pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale - says it has raised $1 million for acquisitions and has added works by several major artists to its permanent collection.
The fundraising campaign was supported by a $500,000 grant from the Ford Foundation last year, in addition to grants from other philanthropic funds and individual donations. The newly acquired art bolsters the museum’s core collections of work by African-American and Latin American artists and those of Asian descent, as well as pieces that deal with urban themes and work by Bronx-born or Bronx-based artists.
Among the artists represented in the new acquisitions are the sculptor Elizabeth Catlett, the painter Marin Wong and the multimedia artist Öyvind Fahlström; the contemporary artists Glenn Ligon, Jamel Shabazz and Vito Acconci; and Raphael Montañez Ortiz, the artist who founded El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem.
The museum, which was founded in 1971 and began building a collection in 1986, is typically able to spend $10,000 to $50,000 a year for acquisitions, and it receives donations and bequests of work. But without an endowment to support buying, it has often struggled to add significant works. “As art becomes so much more expensive, it’s hard for a small institution to acquire anything anymore,†said Holly Block, the museum’s executive director. “This is a huge change for us.â€
