Olga Hirshhorn Collects, on view through July 8, 2007, showcases works by 20th-century American and European artists, including Niki de Saint Phalle, Sam Francis, Morris Graves, Edward Hopper, Joan Mitchell, Alex Katz, and Ed Ruscha. The exhibition also features artists whose work Hirshhorn has collected in-depth, such as Anni and Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Larry Rivers and Bob Thompson.
"Mrs. Hirshhorn is a passionate collector with an extraordinary breadth of interest-from Cypriot and pre-Columbian antiquities to prints and drawings by contemporary masters, she has amassed a treasure trove of primarily small and domestic-scale objects that demonstrate her searching, critical eye and sensitivity to a wide range of forms and styles,"Â said Corcoran Director and President Paul Greenhalgh.
Olga Hirshorn actively acquired works as a frequent visitor to galleries and artists' studios in the 1960s and 1970s with her late husband, Joseph H. Hirshhorn, the financier, philanthropist, and founding donor of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. As a result, the Hirshhorns developed relationships with some of the 20th century's most important artistic figures.
"This collection represents a lot of friendships that we established early on, but it also teaches us about how artists think, how they work. I've learned a lot from living with these objects. I'm so pleased that others will now have a chance to enjoy them as we did,"Â Olga Hirshhorn said.
Olga Hirshhorn Collects: Selections from the Permanent Collection is organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art and supported by The President's Exhibition Fund. -- www.corcoran.org
Posted February 20th, 2007 by ruzik_tuzik
