GREENWICH, CONN.- Greenwich Collects: Wyeth, Italian Renaissance Drawings, Chinese Antiquities, a rare assembly of three private Greenwich collections, is on view at the Bruce Museum beginning July 6 and continuing through August 31.

Greenwich is fortunate to be one of the most active centers for the private collecting of art in the country, indeed in the world. This show serves to illustrate the diversity and beauty of three local collections. Although only a selection of a portion of their holdings, the works that will be on view speak to the remarkable level of quality achieved and the connoisseurship their owners brought to bear on the assembly of their collections.

One of the collections that is on view has a focus on American art with special strengths in Andrew Wyeth's art – a perennial favorite with modern museum-goers. A second collection, owned by Helen-Mae and Seymour Askin, is comprised of splendid and exceedingly rare Italian Renaissance and Baroque drawings. The third collection, most of which has been donated or promised to the Bruce Museum by Fred and Jane Brooks, offers an excellent array of ancient Chinese ceramics, primarily from the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD).

“It seems especially fitting to have these Chinese antiquities on view when we are featuring the exhibition of Chinese and American contemporary artists' works, Tales of Two Cities: New York & Beijing,” says Peter C. Sutton, Executive Director of the Bruce Museum.

“As heterodox as the three collections are, they reflect the passion and discernment of their owners,” Sutton says. “We are grateful to them for permitting the public to share in the enjoyment of their art for a brief period this summer.”

This exhibition, on view at the Bruce Museum this summer beginning July 6 and continuing through August 31, is generously underwritten by the Charles M. and Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund.