WEST PALM BEACH, FLA.- The Norton Museum of Art today announced 27 new acquisitions by a range of established and mid-career artists that illuminate diverse perspectives. Since its founding, the Norton Museum of Art’s collection has been supported and bolstered by distinguished collectors and members of the Palm Beach community, and its holdings have become the leading and most far-ranging in Florida and the region. These acquisitions support the Museum’s continued dedication to featuring international artists and to representing broad experiences that emphasize shared humanity.
“These acquisitions reflect the Norton’s longstanding commitment to supporting diverse artists from around the world and across generations, and to crafting exhibitions and narratives that highlight our shared experiences,” said Ghislain d’Humières, Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Norton. “It is such a privilege to have incredible works from our exhibition program, such as María Berrío’s The Quiet Undoing and Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.)’s Krome Drawings, join our collection. We are grateful to the donors who continue to support the Norton, and to the visitors who inspire us daily.”
In addition to these major acquisitions, the Museum also announced the recent installation of Claes Oldenburg’s Study for Typewriter Eraser: Final Position (1970), featured in the Ruth and Carl Shapiro Great Hall alongside Notebook Page: Standing Typewriter Eraser Big Guy (1970). Together, the two works illustrate the multiple orientations Oldenburg considered for Typewriter Eraser, Scale X (1999), the monumental sculpture that greets visitors in the Museum’s Heyman Plaza. This installation coincides with the release of Oldenburg and Van Bruggen: The Typewriter Eraser, A Favored Form , a new publication by J. Rachel Gustafson, Assistant Curator at the Norton, that chronicles the visual evolution of the iconic work and symbol within Oldenburg’s oeuvre. The Norton is inviting the community to support this acquisition effort through donations to make this important work a permanent part of its collection.
The Acquisitions
The Museum recently added 27 acquisitions to its holdings, including the purchases of María Berrío’s The Quiet Undoing through the Museum’s R.H. Norton Trust, and the complete 30-work collection of Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.)’s The Krome Drawings, through the generosity of trustee and noted contemporary collector Jane Holzer, who also recently gifted Awol Erizku’s Nefertiti – Miles Davis (2017) to the Museum.
Berrío’s The Quiet Undoing is currently on view in María Berrío: Esperando mientras la noche florece (Waiting for the Night to Bloom), the artist’s first solo museum exhibition and the eighth iteration of the Museum’s celebrated Recognition of Art by Women (RAW) series organized by Cheryl Brutvan, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Curator of Contemporary Art. Scheduled prior to the advent of the pandemic, the exhibition has proved timely, as Berrío engages audiences with her quarantined experience and brings them into the world of her artistic practice and tactile vision. The Quiet Undoing explores the artist’s sense of introspection and focus amidst the clamor of a world upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, likening the study of paper-like bougainvillea leaves to the act of painting itself.
Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.) likewise demonstrates the visceral power of shared human experience in his suite of portraits of fellow detainees at Miami’s Krome Detention Center, where he was held on immigration-related charges in 2012. Alvarez created the suite of portraits currently on view in Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.): The Krome Drawings both as a means of preserving and amplifying the stories of his companions, and to cope with the circumstances of his own loss of freedom, memorializing his subjects as individuals with unique stories rather than as nameless entries in a system.
Through the extraordinary generosity of donors, the Museum’s recent acquisitions also include a survey of the New Yorker artist and illustrator Saul Steinberg, gifts of The Saul Steinberg Foundation; Idle Idol by Arlene Shechet, gifted by the artist and Adam Sheffer in honor of Jean Sharf; Awol Erizku’s Nefertiti – Miles Davis from Jane Holzer; two major photographs by Diane Arbus and Nan Goldin given by Mr. and Mrs. Richard Salomon; a significant Michal Rovner vinyl print, with two other works, gifted by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy; a gelatin silver print by André Kertész from Kathy and Mitchell Jacobson; a wood sculpture by Chaim Gross, donated by Tomoko Supak; and a promised gift of Pablo Picasso’s Buste de Femme au Chapeau from an anonymous donor.
In addition to patrons noted above, other major donors include Allen Latham Cudworth and Cynthia Leach Cudworth; artist Darryl Curran; Beth Rudin DeWoody; Richard and Eileen Ekstract; Liz and Jeff Klotz; Joan H. Lumb; Deborah and Dennis O’Kain; artist Sheila Pinkel; John Prince and William Stover; and Stefani Elkort Twyford and the Martin Elkort Archive.
Representing a variety of mediums, all of which enhance the Norton’s collections of American, Contemporary, and Photography collections, highlight acquisitions include:
Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971)
Veteran with a flag, N.Y.C., 1971, printed later
Gelatin silver print
Edition 20 of 75
20 x 16 in. (50.8 x 40.6 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Salomon
Awol Erizku (American, born Ethiopia, 1988)
Nefertiti - Miles Davis, 2017
Hard coated foam, mirror tile and motor
Edition 3 of 3
30 x 15 x 23 in. (76.2 x 38.1 x 58.4 cm)
Gift of Jane Holzer
Nan Goldin (American, born 1953)
Fog, Brides-les-Bains, France, 2002, printed 2003
Cibachrome print
Edition 3 of 15
23 2/8 x 40 in. (59.1 x 101.6 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Salomon
Chaim Gross (American, 1904-1991)
Untitled (Standing Figure), 1936
Wood
22 ¼ x 5 7/8 x 3 ½ in. (56.5 x 14.9 x 8.9 cm)
Gift of Tomoko Supak
Oliver Herring (German, born 1964)
(Juvenile Bald Headed) Eagle, 2006
Chromogenic development prints, museum board, foam core and polystyrene
43 x 29 x 33 in. (109.2 x 73.6 x 83.8 cm)
Gift of Richard and Eileen Ekstract
André Kertész (American, born Hungary, 1894-1985)
Colette, Paris, 1930s, printed 1970s
Gelatin silver print
10 5/8 x 13 5/8 in. (27 x 34.6 cm)
Gift of Kathy and Mitchell Jacobson
Michal Rovner (Israeli, born 1957)
Mutual Interest, 1997
Archival pigment print on vinyl
82 7/8 × 61 1/4 in. (210.5 × 155.6 cm)
Gift of Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy
Arlene Shechet (American, born 1951)
Idle Idol, 2013
Glazed ceramic and hardwood
89 ½ x 13 ½ x 13 ½ in. (227.3 x 34.3 x 34.3 cm)
Gift of the artist, Arlene Shechet and Adam Sheffer in honor of Jean Sharf
Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881-1973)
Buste de Femme au Chapeau, 1962
Linocut on Arches paper
AP from edition of 50
29 ½ x 24 in. (74.9 x 60.9 cm)
Private Collection
Saul Steinberg (American, born Romania, 1914-1999)
23 works on paper, ranging from 1945-1999
Dimensions variable
Gifts of The Saul Steinberg Foundation
