By WKTV Staff
joanne@wktv.org
The Grand Rapids Art Museum (GRAM) has opened An Extraordinary Legacy: The Miner S. and Mary Ann Keeler Collection, an exhibition of 65 works of modern and contemporary art at GRAM. Running through Oct. 8, the exhibition celebrates the transformative gift of art given to the given to the Museum from the Keeler Collection between 1976 and 2021, and includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints.
“The Grand Rapids Art Museum is thrilled to celebrate the profound impact of Miner and Mary Ann Keeler on the Museum, and on the city of Grand Rapids, with An Extraordinary Legacy,” said GRAM Advancement Director Elly Barnette-Dawson. “From its inception, the Museum’s permanent collection has grown primarily through the generosity of individual donors. This dynamic gift from the Keelers ensures our community has access to these cherished works of art for generations to come.”
The Keelers’ artistic legacy is built upon their civic and institutional involvement, as well as their personal art collecting. Miner and Mary Ann Keeler had the vision to make art accessible to all in Grand Rapids and were pivotal supporters of downtown revitalization and many local cultural organizations. The couple was central to bringing Alexander Calder’s sculpture, La Grande Vitesse, to downtown Grand Rapids in 1969, as well as the kinetic sculpture Motu Viget, by Mark di Suvero in 1977, and Alexis Smith’s The Grand to DeVos Hall in 1983.
An Extraordinary Legacy is focused on artists who emerged as artistic leaders between 1940 and 1990, a vibrant period in American and European art. The artists represented in the exhibition include Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, Diego Rivera, Alexander Calder, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Nevelson, Mark di Suvero, Andy Warhol, Janet Fish, and Alexis Smith.
An Extraordinary Legacy is divided into three sections: Sculpture and Sculptors’ Works on Paper explores the significance of sculpture and sculptors in the Keelers’ lives and advocacy. European Modern Masters shares works that illuminate important art historical movements including Fauvism, Cubism, Surrealism, and Expressionism. American Art: From Representation to Abstraction (and Back Again) spans the years 1921 to 1995, focusing on the dynamic tension between realism and abstraction in American art.
