WASHINGTON, DC- Nov. 12, 2010-One of the largest and most refined collections of early American furniture in private hands, as well as major Dutch paintings, American paintings, and works on paper, including some 40 floral watercolors by Redouté, acquired with great connoisseurship together over four decades by George M. and Linda H. Kaufman, have been promised to the National Gallery of Art, Washington. A temporary exhibition highlighting the early American furniture will take place at the Gallery in two years.
“While building their exceptional collection of art and antiques, Linda and George Kaufman have been leaders, as well as generous lenders and donors, in the art world, and especially at the National Gallery of Art,” said Earl A. Powell III. “One of America’s earliest art forms was furniture influenced by European traditions, and this is an opportunity for the Gallery to complement not only its European decorative arts donated by the Widener family, but also our growing collection of American art. With this donation, the Gallery would house one of the finest assemblages of early American furniture, and there is no such comparable and easily accessible public collection in the nation’s capital. This gift also includes the most significant donation of Dutch paintings to the Gallery since its founding benefactors.”
“We always wanted to give the collection to the American people,” noted Linda Kaufman. “The National Gallery of Art will be the ideal home. George would have been extremely pleased.”
Although the Gallery does not actively collect decorative arts, its holdings of some 515 objects include European furniture; tapestries; enamels; ceramics from the 15th and 16th centuries; medieval treasury objects; a fine selection of 18th-century French furniture; and a large group of Chinese porcelains, primarily from the Qing Dynasty of the 17th to 19th centuries.
Source: National Gallery of Art
“While building their exceptional collection of art and antiques, Linda and George Kaufman have been leaders, as well as generous lenders and donors, in the art world, and especially at the National Gallery of Art,” said Earl A. Powell III. “One of America’s earliest art forms was furniture influenced by European traditions, and this is an opportunity for the Gallery to complement not only its European decorative arts donated by the Widener family, but also our growing collection of American art. With this donation, the Gallery would house one of the finest assemblages of early American furniture, and there is no such comparable and easily accessible public collection in the nation’s capital. This gift also includes the most significant donation of Dutch paintings to the Gallery since its founding benefactors.”
“We always wanted to give the collection to the American people,” noted Linda Kaufman. “The National Gallery of Art will be the ideal home. George would have been extremely pleased.”
Although the Gallery does not actively collect decorative arts, its holdings of some 515 objects include European furniture; tapestries; enamels; ceramics from the 15th and 16th centuries; medieval treasury objects; a fine selection of 18th-century French furniture; and a large group of Chinese porcelains, primarily from the Qing Dynasty of the 17th to 19th centuries.
Source: National Gallery of Art
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