TACOMA, WA.- Tacoma Art Museum recently accepted more than 100 pieces of art into the permanent collection, including fifty-two nineteenth century Japanese woodblock prints, and works by Northwest artists such as Dale Chihuly, Akio Takamori, and Brian Murphy.

The Board of Trustees formally accepted Dale Chihuly’s Ma Chihuly’s Floats into the collection. In July 2006, Chihuly gifted the thirty-nine glass orbs that occupied Richard Rhodes’ central stone wave from January to November 2006. This brings the museum’s holding to 110 individual Chihuly pieces.

The Japanese woodblock prints were donated by Al Buck, a direct descendant of Alfred E. Buck, US ambassador to Japan from 1898 to 1902, and his wife, Betsy. The prints range in date from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Despite their age, they are in nearly pristine condition because the family stored them away for more than a century. Images include important works from Hiroshige’s Tokkaido Highway and Tales of the 47 Ronin, as well as contemporary images of westernization and the Sino-Japanese War in 1894–95. The prints are in a genre called ukiyo-e, which means, "pictures of the floating world." The genre was produced between the seventeenth and the twentieth centuries, featuring motifs of landscapes, the theater, and city life. It is the main artistic genre of woodblock printing in Japan .

“The Buck family’s gift is a significant addition to the museum’s fine ukiyo-e print collection,” said Rock Hushka, Director of Curatorial Administration and Curator of Contemporary and Northwest Art. “It perfectly compliments the Constance R. Lyon collection, making Tacoma Art Museum ’s Japanese print collection the finest in the Northwest.”

Dedicated to supporting Northwest artists, Tacoma Art Museum acquired several works by artists who have had work featured at the museum during the past year. Brian Murphy and Blake Haygood were both represented in the exhibition 2006 Neddy Artist Fellowship. Neddy-Fellow-award winner Murphy’s Untitled Self-Portrait was on view during the summer exhibition. It was gifted to the museum by Stacey Winston. Haygood’s Easy Pop was a gift of trustee Ben Krohn and his wife, Aileen.

The museum purchased Akio Takamori’s Self-Portrait Drawing. His twenty-five year retrospective exhibition, Between Clouds of Memory, was at Tacoma Art Museum during the summer of 2006. Jim Riswold presented his series of Napoleon images during Bastille Day festivities in July and later gifted the work, La View de Napoleon en 10.058399933614591m., into the museum’s collection.

“We are not only dedicated to presenting exhibitions featuring Northwest art, but securing the place of these artists in the region’s cultural legacy,” said Director Stephanie Stebich. “The support of our museum patrons and trustees through their generous gifts to the permanent collection furthers our mission.”

The estate of internationally recognized Seattle jewelry artist Ramona Solberg donated several works to the collection, including two oil paintings, Hazel Koenig’s Kitchen Still Life and Spencer Moseley’s Rendezvous in Paddua (R.I.P.).

Tacoma Art Museum purchased two new videos by Northwest artists for the growing collection of this new media in contemporary art. Ron Lambert’s Phenomenal Safety, and Jared Pappas Kelley’s Some Say She Lost Her Head join the collected works. The museum also purchased three sculptures of Patrick Holderfield’s Untitled (Tree) from the series Pilgrim with funds from trustee Rebecca Stewart and her husband, Alexander. Also, trustee Merrill Wagner contributed Tom Wilson’s Merrill Wagner.

Other acquisitions include work by William Ingham, Larry Bemm, Art Hansen, Wendell Brazeau, and Steven Fuller.

“These new pieces are a testament to the rising status Tacoma Art Museum ’s collection holds in the region,” said Hushka. “Our Northwest collection, as well as the museum’s premier collection of Chihuly glass and the extensive Japanese woodblock print collection all are significantly strengthened with these new acquisitions. We are fortunate to have such wonderful support from our donors and the community.”

Tacoma Art Museum connects people and builds community through art. The museum serves the diverse communities of the region through its collection, exhibitions, and learning programs, emphasizing art and artists from the Northwest. The museum’s five galleries display an array of top national shows, the best of Northwest art, creatively themed exhibitions, and historical retrospectives. In addition, there is an Education Wing for children, adults, and seniors with an art resource center, classroom, and studio for art making. Tacoma Art Museum is located in Tacoma ’s Museum District, near the Museum of Glass , the Washington State History Museum , and historic Union Station.