NORFOLK, VA.- David R. and Susan S. Goode and their daughters, Christina and Martha, have long been dedicated to advancing the institution’s mission of bringing art and people together. Recently, the family committed two of their largest gifts to the Chrysler Museum of Art to date: a $2.5 million donation that will fund the new Goode Works on Paper Center and a group of 100 photographs by O. Winston Link. The new facility, to be located within the main Museum building adjacent to the McKinnon Contemporary Galleries, will improve public access to photographs, drawings, prints and other works on paper, which account for one-third of the Chrysler’s collection. The Chrysler Museum will also showcase artworks from the Goode’s collection in Lasting Impressions: Works on Paper from the Collection of David and Susan Goode, an exhibition set to open later this year. Planning for the Goode Works on Paper Center is well into the design phase.

“The Goode’s ardent support of the Chrysler Museum of Art will impact the communities the Chrysler serves for generations to come. The expanded space in the Goode Works on Paper Center will face public galleries and greatly improve accessibility and make the Museum’s collection more available to visitors, artists, students and scholars. This monumental gift advances the Chrysler’s mission of bringing art and people together, raising awareness about the Chrysler’s significant holdings and inviting closer engagement,” said Erik Neil, Museum director.

The Goode Family

The Goode family’s commitment to the Chrysler extends back more than three decades. Both Susan and David have served full terms on the Board of Trustees and they have been continually active on Museum committees dedicated to historic preservation, collections and fundraising. They have been recognized regionally and nationally for their dedicated arts advocacy with the Virginia Governor’s Arts Award and the Americans for the Arts Lifetime Achievement Award among other accolades. The family’s support for the Arts continues in the next generation with their daughters Christina and Martha and the Goode Family Foundation. Christina Goode is a Chrysler Museum of Art Trustee and chairs the Collections Committee.

“I was raised going to galleries and museums and being surrounded by an eclectic assortment of works on paper. My greatest memories are punctuated by art and I am so excited to be able to share that experience with other children and families through the Center,” said Christina Goode. “My husband Blair and I share the family art bug and also started with works on paper. The Chrysler was important to me growing up in Norfolk and Blair and I are proud to maintain our ties and help this important project,” noted Martha Goode.

The Goode Works on Paper Center

The Goode Works on Paper Center will include a dedicated space to house a growing collection of more than 10,000 photographs, drawings, prints and other works on paper and a study room that will significantly improve public access to the collection. “Currently, when visitors request to view these works, art handlers must retrieve them from storage, place them on carts to transport them to a common area and ensure that a docent and security officer are present. The initial architectural renderings from Work Program Architects highlight accessibility to the space, provide room for classes and study groups and enable Museum staff to perform collections care and recordkeeping in the space. A full-time associate in the Goode Works on Paper Center will serve the public needs as well as curatorial research requests,” noted Neil.




“David and I began collecting prints when we were first married, and soon became fascinated with the various printing methods. We hope this will lead to acquisitions and gifts to enhance the Chrysler’s already fine collections of photographs, prints and other works on paper,” said Susan Goode.

Gifts of Art

The Goodes have made a gift of 100 photographs by O. Winston Link (1914–2001) to be added to the Chrysler collection over the next three years. Link began making photographs while growing up in Brooklyn but focused professionally on engineering and public relations. After World War II, he opened a photography studio to support his work in advertising. Fascinated by trains from an early age, Link visited Virginia in 1955 to explore the Norfolk and Western line, one of the last to use steam engines. He was drawn to the technology—both the steam engine’s engineering and the question of how to photograph it—leading him to innovate a complex flashbulb array capable of capturing an engine’s steam output at night. Working with the leaders at Norfolk and Western, he set out to make photographs all along the line before it converted to diesel-powered engines. Link pursued the project for the next five years, creating more than 2,250 black and white negatives and 200 color negatives and transparencies. He also recorded the sounds of the engines and produced several records of train sounds.

Link’s work gained wide attention after the 1983 exhibition of his work at the Chrysler Museum, which was one of the first museums to present Link’s work in an in-depth exhibition with a publication. Five years later, with the publication of Steam, Steel & Stars in 1987, Link’s fame was secured and several exhibitions and publications followed. In January 2004, the O. Winston Link Museum opened in Roanoke, Virginia. The museum is located in the former passenger station of the Norfolk & Western Railway.

The Goodes began collecting Link’s work when David was serving as CEO of Norfolk Southern. Since 2004, 100 works from their collection have come to the Chrysler on long-term loan, adding additional prints in 2005 and 2008. Making a gift of these works now not only honors the history of Link’s work at the Chrysler and the Goodes’ ongoing support, but it also commemorates how Link’s early exhibition at the Chrysler helped establish the Museum’s photography program as it prepares a new study center to reaffirm that commitment to the medium.

“One mark of the Chrysler is the breadth and diversity of its art. It is a resource to see the full range of techniques and history that people can create. Works on paper are an important part of the picture and, we hope this facility will help everyone see how the many processes of art can be used to make beautiful and important works,” said David Goode.

The Exhibition

Later this year, the Goodes will share an exhibition of works from their extensive collection of drawings, prints and watercolors. The exhibition, Lasting Impressions: Works on Paper from the Collection of David and Susan Goode will include many notable mid-20th-century makers, such as Romare Bearden, Kara Walker and Robert Motherwell and highlight a diverse array of techniques and processes.