Late last year, the Brooklyn Museum announced it had acquired more than 330 works of art in 2024—an impressive number for any institution, and even more so given the fierce competition for donations in the city. The works are spread across some of the museum’s most notable collections, including those of American art, African art, Asian art, contemporary art, feminist art, decorative arts, and design and photography. What’s more, these gifts coincide with the Brooklyn Museum’s 200th anniversary, providing a glimpse into where the museum may be headed over the next century. To discuss it all, The Observer spoke with Catherine Futter, director of curatorial affairs and senior curator of decorative arts.
The gifts coincide with the Brooklyn Museum’s bicentennial. What does this milestone mean for the agency?
The Brooklyn Museum is one of the oldest museums in the United States and has a unique legacy as a trailblazer in the art world. The museum’s advocacy of the history of art that inspires compassion and joy while challenging the limitations of traditional art historical narratives is critical to where we are today. The museum’s founders envisioned an institution that would bring world culture and history to everyone.
The museum has been commemorating this milestone with current and upcoming exhibitions celebrating this legacy—“Solid Gold,” “Brooklyn Artists Show” and “Breaking the Mold: Brooklyn Museum’s 200th Anniversary,” an in-depth look at the museum A rich history and ever-evolving future, with incredible new acquisitions and gifts of art, as well as objects that track the development of our own collection.
With such a large gift, I’m sure it’s hard to name a standout, but what is your personal favorite from this donation?
This year, the museum expanded its collection with the purchase of more than 330 pieces, more than 100 of which were gifts of art from distinguished donors to commemorate the museum’s 200th anniversary. Selected works will be displayed in the upcoming exhibition “Breaking the Rules”, which will open on February 28, 2025 and run until February 22, 2026.
While all new items make meaningful and exciting contributions to the Museum’s growing collection, here are some particularly exciting gifts:
Guy Aulenti’s Pool lounge chair It is one of thirty-five gifts given by renowned collector Dennis Friedman to commemorate the museum’s anniversary. Pool lounge chairWhile not breaking with tradition in form, it incorporates the colors and shapes of Pop Art and is currently installed in the Museum’s fourth-floor Decorative Arts and Design Gallery.
Object two Works by British artist Antony Gormley are part of the artist’s oeuvre knitting work series, which addresses the question: “How do you begin to describe the inside of a body, or the body at rest?” The sculpture depicts the human body as an almost architectural work, composed of steel arranged in a grid scaffolding. Over a career spanning more than forty-five years as an artist, Gormley has used the human body to understand the concept of the body in space.
Inukai Kyohei Javanese coat An important addition to the museum’s collection of works by Japanese American artists. His work displays a masterful Impressionist style influenced by his teacher, William Merritt Chase. JAvanis coatAlthough primarily a portrait of Inkay’s lover and model, Dorothy Hampton, the upper part of the composition also includes a self-portrait of the artist visible in the mirror’s reflection.
Another exciting addition to the museum’s collection is the work of Kyōhei Inukai the Younger Untitled (still life). This work by Kyōhei’s son depicts a vase of zinnias, a family photo and other personal items on a side table. The work, created shortly after the artist married his second wife, delves into the couple’s domestic life. The painting’s unusual downward angle and seemingly random cropping are reminiscent of Japanese ukiyo-e prints, which may have influenced the artist.
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The first work by Winfred Rembert to enter the collection, Looking for Rembertshowcases the skills of artists without formal training and presents alternative narratives of artistic production. Although Rembert enjoyed painting throughout his life, his artistic career officially began in prison in his middle age. It was there when he started making small wallets. Later leather images were created using hammers and dyes.
Gift from the Alex Katz Foundation, sooner or later is one of Marco di Suvero’s most organic sculptures, conveying his fluidity and spontaneity as a sculptor. With a storied career spanning more than six decades, Di Suero is considered one of the most important American sculptors of his generation. Di Suvero’s other works can be seen in major museums and public spaces around the world, and there is no better time than the Brooklyn Museum’s 200th anniversary to add this piece to the museum’s plaza alongside the iconic . Oy/Io Sculpture by Deborah Kass.
large conical bowl Works by Takahiro Kondo have just been exhibited as part of Porcelain in the Mist: The Kondo Family of Ceramics. This work is a masterpiece of “silver mist” glass invented by Japanese artist Kondo Takahiro, which perfectly embodies the artist’s “creation
These gifts come from a wide range of donors. How long have you been working at this?
The acquisition process is ongoing thanks to the generosity of the trustees and the work of the museum’s directors and curators. Acquisitions meetings are held throughout the year to consider which works the museum will purchase or accept as gifts.
A press release announcing the gifts noted that many of the donated contemporary works were created by Brooklyn-based artists. To what extent do you think your museum represents Brooklyn rather than engaging the rest of the world?
The Brooklyn Museum’s extraordinary encyclopedic collection of more than 140,000 objects represents global culture and more than 6,000 years of history, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to important American works to groundbreaking installations on display in the only feminist art center of its kind. .
In a vast collection that spans an incredible range of geography and time, the museum strives to highlight local artists, such as the current “Brooklyn Artists Show” and “Breaking the Mold.”
The 215 artists in the Brooklyn Artists Show showcase Brooklyn’s creative output from the past five years, exploring and challenging contemporary themes that resonate locally and globally, such as immigration, cross-cultural exchange, identity, history and memory. The presentation also highlighted collective care, healing, joy, solidarity, uncertainty and turmoil, intertwined with material experimentation.
The “outside the box” Made in Brooklyn section pays homage to the borough’s artists and designers from the 17th century to the present day. Beginning with a pair of Delaware Lenape youth moccasins that pay homage to the native peoples of this land, this section travels back in time to highlight the work of contemporary Brooklyn artists such as KAWS, Duke Riley and Tourmaline. Some works reflect the diversity of artists and makers who call Brooklyn home, while others consider outsiders’ fascination with, documenting, and exploring the borough as a site of provocative history and popular imagination Theme place. The works span the museum’s vast collections, from decorative arts and design to paintings, photography and works on paper, as well as immersive period galleries that illustrate the borough’s rich history, including that of its many immigrant communities. The entire space displays historical and contemporary images of Brooklyn, depicting its performances, protests, architecture and design, landscapes and waterways, and most importantly, its people.
