UNM alumnus E. Gerald Meyer bequeathed art valued at approximately $6.2 million to the UNM Art Museum. The gift includes more than 100 Taos School paintings, European and Modern American paintings, drawings and prints, and the contemporary Western genre, including canvases by Thomas Moran, Nicholai Fechin, George Inness and Charles M. Russell.
Photo: E. Gerald Meyer and E. Luanne McKinnon, director, UNM Art Museum
Meyer, from Laramie, Wyo., earned a doctorate at UNM in 1951. In choosing the UNM Art Museum as the best museum to give his art collection to, Meyer said, “The collection would be viewed by lots of people. Much [of the collection] is New Mexico art, and I was born in Albuquerque.”
After inheriting works of art from his grandparents, Meyer became serious about expanding the group on his own, developing an eye for paintings and sculpture that grew over 40 years of collecting. Meyer’s affection for the American Southwest – the land, lore and cultures – is exemplified in the clear focus of his collection, which includes Native American portraits and early 20th century Indian life, realistic scenes of cowboy work in all of its manifestations from daybreak to sundown, and sweeping vistas of the west. Walter Ufer’s “Taos Landscape,” ca. 1920, recalls northern New Mexico before it became an art colony.
“We are very grateful for Dr. Meyer’s wonderful contribution to the permanent collection, which broadens the museum’s holdings in American and European art, and especially Southwestern painting,” said E. Luanne McKinnon, director of the University Art Museum. “These fine works of art will be rewarding for years to come for viewers within the university community, school children and the general public.”
For more information visit: University Art Museum.
For information on giving to UNM, call (505) 277-4503 or visit the UNM Foundation.
Media Contact: Sari Krosinsky, (505) 277-1593; e-mail: michal@unm.edu
Posted by scarr at August 28, 2009 01:53 PM