SAINT LOUIS, MO.- The Saint Louis Art Museum announced today that Charles and Rosalyn Lowenhaupt have generously donated their entire collection of 1,357 Japanese prints and related works of art amassed over the past two decades. In addition to the couple’s gift of works on paper, they have donated their entire collection of books, exhibition catalogues and research materials to the Museum’s Richardson Memorial Library.

Since 1988, Charles and Rosalyn Lowenhaupt have collected Japanese works of art from the Meiji period (1868–1912), focusing on color woodblock prints that depict scenes from the Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). Both conflicts were fought and won by a rapidly modernizing Japan over its neighbors China and Russia.

“The Museum is honored to be the recipient of the distinguished Lowenhaupt Collection. Charles and Roz Lowenhaupt have set a laudable example with their civic-minded donation,” said Museum Director Brent R. Benjamin. “This singular gift makes the Saint Louis Art Museum a premier center for the study of the art produced during this relatively brief but important period in Japan’s history.”

While the Lowenhaupt Collection consists largely of prints, including triptychs, diptychs and single-sheets, it also features an assortment of related materials. The Lowenhaupts acquired works in a variety of media, including paintings in hanging scroll and six-panel folding screen formats, drawings, woodblocks, woodblock-printed books, lithographs, photographs, postcards, maps, textiles, newsmagazines and board games.

“Honestly, there was never any question in our minds that the collection would stay in St. Louis,” said Charles Lowenhaupt. “It’s so satisfying to give one’s collection when one can actually participate in the excitement and the planning. We recommend that all collectors who are contemplating a gift consider donating it during their lifetime to a museum with the staff and legacy that are the caliber of the Saint Louis Art Museum. Watching professionals institutionalize a collection with such care so it can be shared with the public is a wonderful experience a collector can rarely achieve on his or her own.”

A selection of the Lowenhaupt Collection will be on view in Gallery 322 in early 2011.

Charles A. Lowenhaupt is founder of Lowenhaupt Global Advisors and Managing Member of Lowenhaupt Global Advisor’s affiliated firm, Lowenhaupt & Chasnoff, LLC. He is also a member of the Institute of Wealth Management Standards, a Founding Advisory Faculty member of the Institute for Private Investors, and a director of the Clements Library of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Rosalyn is a member of the Washington University Women’s Society and the National Association of Arts and Sciences.

Rosalyn Lowenhaupt is a member of the Independent Educational Consultants Association and serves on the Board of the National Society of Arts and Letters, Corresponding Secretary for St. Louis Chapter; Washington University Women's Society Advisory Board; Mercantile Library Board; and Memory Care Home Solutions Board.