DETROIT, MI.- The Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) is dazzling Michigan with paintings from its renowned American art collection that are traveling to four museums throughout the state. Works by famed artists such as James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt and William Merritt Chase are included in the collection of more than 30 paintings that spans the Colonial period (mid 1700s) to the Ash Can school (early 1900s) of American art.

The works have already thrilled audiences at the Kalamazoo Institute of Art, where they were on view from May 1, 2002 to Aug. 29, 2004. The exhibition is currently at the Dennos Museum, Traverse City, until Sept. 25, 2005, under the name Copley to Cassatt: American Painting from the Detroit Institute of Arts. The University Art Museum at Northern Michigan University, Marquette (winter 2006) will be the next venue, followed by the Midland Center for the Arts (fall 2006). These four museums have participated in the DIA’s statewide services program that, for the past 20 years, has provided exhibitions and shared museum expertise and conservation services with other artistic, historical and cultural institutions in Michigan.

“The DIA seeks to not only provide visitors from the metropolitan Detroit area access to our collection, but also to residents throughout the state,” said Graham W. J. Beal, director of the DIA. “We are delighted to have this rare opportunity to put our great American works on tour for such a broad Michigan audience.”

The DIA is currently undergoing a major renovation and expansion project that has reduced the size of the museum and amount of works on display until completion in late 2007. This gives the DIA the opportunity to show a portion of its distinguished American art collection in Michigan and also in American Beauty: Painting and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts, an exhibition that has visited three museums in Europe and is currently traveling to four museums across the United States.

The DIA’s American art collection offers insight into the development of American society as well as American art, with masterpieces in painting, sculpture, furniture and other decorative arts. The American holdings are particularly distinguished by the painting collection, which is considered among the top five in the country.