The Helen Frankenthaler Foundation has given a $5 Million gift to Vermont’s Bennington College, which the artist graduated from in 1949.  “Helen‘s education at Bennington was critical to shaping her sensibility as a young artist, nurturing a spirit of risk-taking, experimentation, and inquiry that formed the basis of her creative process,” says Clifford Ross, chairman of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation. “The foundation is delighted to be making this gift.”

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MoMA has acquired the iconic Jasper Johns’s work Painted Bronze, a work that has sat in the Philadelphia Museum of Art for three decades, and which was purchased recently by collectors Henry and Marie-Josée Kravis.  Kravis, who serves as MoMA’s Board President, gifted the work shortly after purchase directly from the artist’s personal collection.  “It’s not easy to convince someone who’s kept something for himself for more than 50 years,” says dealer Matthew Marks. “It’s a big deal for him, emotionally. And one can imagine all the people over all the years who have asked, all the institutions, all the collectors who have been told no, since I was a kid.”

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Hedge Fund CEO Ken Griffin has gifted $10 million to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, a donation that will help construct the museum’s new gallery wing which will now bear his name.  “Ken has been a consistent and generous supporter of the arts in our community,” says Director Madeleine Grynsztejn.  “We are extremely grateful for this important gift, as it will support our Vision Campaign and bring exciting, innovative exhibitions to diverse audiences in Chicago and beyond.” (more…)

Artist and architect Maya Lin has been awarded the Gish Prize, in recognition of her “outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind’s enjoyment and understanding of life.”  The $300,000 first prize will be given on November 12th at MoMA. (more…)

After much discussion, Pablo Picasso’s famed Le Tricorne will leave its place in the lobby of the Four Seasons New York this Sunday, traveling to a new home at the New York Historical Society.  In the meantime, the Hotel is encouraging visitors to come and see the work one final time.  “We’ll enjoy it and give it the standing ovation it deserves after nearly six decades as the backdrop of wild parties and quiet moments when families celebrate life’s milestones,” says Four Seasons co-owner Julian Niccolini.  “Everyone is welcome to stop in and see it before it leaves.” (more…)

Tracey Emin‘s “My Bed,” which set an auction record for the artist early this month, has given on a 10-year loan to the Tate by collector Count Christian Duerckheim, a Cologne-based industrialist.  “I always admired the honesty of Tracey, but I bought My Bed because it is a metaphor for life, where troubles begin and logics die.” (more…)

Over £50 million worth of works by Cy Twombly have been donated to the Tate by the Cy Twombly foundation, ranking as one of the most valuable gifts the museum has ever received.  “It ranks alongside Rothko’s gift of the Seagram mural paintings in 1970 and together with Twombly’s cycle of paintings The Four Seasons 1993-5, acquired in 2002,” Tate Director Sir Nicholas Serota said of the acquisition. “His gives an enduring place in London to the work of one of the great painters of the second half of the 20th century.” (more…)

Artist Jim Dine has donated his collection of fine art prints to Washington State University’s Museum of Art, consisting of more than 200 works prints valued at nearly $2 million.  “This is a complete career overview in printmaking by one of the most significant artists of our time, all from the artist himself,” says Chris Bruce, director for the Museum of Art/WSU. “It is unprecedented for our museum and we are breathless over the scope of this gift.” (more…)

The Met has announced that it will undergo an immense renovation of its Modern Art wing, creating special showcase galleries and room for its expanding collection, especially following the windfall gift of Cubist and Modernist works from the collection of Leonard A. Lauder.  “Leonard’s collection is such a huge missing link between our very strong collections of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism and our moderately strong holdings of early-20th-century,” says director Thomas P. Campbell, “that if we reconfigure the galleries, we have the potential to tell the chronological story.” (more…)

The Economist reports on an ongoing restoration effort towards several Mark Rothko paintings previously on view at Harvard’s Holyoke Center.  The paintings, badly damaged by sunlight, have undergone rigorous chemical analysis, using various samples to determine the reaction times and fading of color that would have brought the works to their current state. (more…)

Hong Kong’s M+ Museum has received a major gift of 37 contemporary Chinese works from the collection of Guan Yi, one of the nation’s most significant collectors.  The donation includes a number of important works, most notably the entire checklist from the 2003 Venice Biennale Exhibition Canton Express.  “Guan Yi’s generous donation is a marker of the trust and respect that M+, Hong Kong’s future museum for visual culture, already holds within the international artistic community, and signals building global anticipation for the first museum of its kind in Asia – already housing one of the most important collections of Hong Kong and Chinese contemporary art worldwide,” says Michael Lynch, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority’s Chief Executive Officer.  (more…)

Collectors Keith and Katherine Sachs, longtime supporters of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, have endowed the institution with 97 works by Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Brice Marden and Gerhard Richter, among others, valued at over $70 million.  This museum has always been committed to contemporary art,” said Museum Director Timothy Rub. “Now, with the Sachs gift, we will have one of the best collections of contemporary art in the country. It’s transformative.” (more…)

Dealer Virginia Dwan, who earned a reputation for her ongoing support and collection of a number of pioneering “Land Art” works during the 1960’s and 70’s, has pledged the donation of 250 works from her collection to The National Gallery in Washington.  Among the works donated are Marcel Duchamp’s iconic recreation of the Mona Lisa with a mustache drawn on, and Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, a monumental piece in the Nevada desert.  “I want the collection to have the largest audience of people possible, not just art world types who have a to-do list.”  Dwan commented. (more…)

A major legal battle over the estate of copper heiress Huguette Clark has reached a settlement, with the Corcoran Gallery of Art receiving a large share of Clark’s fortune, including $10 million in cash, half the proceeds from the sale of Monet’s Water Lillies, and a seat on the board of a new national arts foundation.  “We’re going to be very guarded with these funds,” said Corcoran President Peggy Loar. “This will help our operating situation, but very carefully.” (more…)

Philanthropist and collector Leonard A. Lauder, who recently donated an impressive selection of early Modernist works to the Metropolitan Museum, has added another masterwork to his gift, Fernand Léger’s The Village.  “Leonard Lauder is dedicated to creating the greatest collection of Cubist art in the world and to ensuring that these works will be accessible to the millions of people who visit the Met.”  said Museum director and CEO Thomas P. Campbell. (more…)

Israeli Shipping mogul Eyal Ofer has made a £10 million donation to the Tate Modern, bringing the museum within reach of its £215 million fundraising drive to fund a major expansion program. “I am delighted that the Eyal Ofer Family Foundation has chosen to make such a major contribution towards Tate Modern’s future.” Says Sir Nicholas Serota, the Tate’s current director. “It is exciting to see such outstanding philanthropy continuing from one generation to the next. The generosity of Eyal Ofer and his family will help to make Tate Modern a truly 21st-century museum.”  (more…)

Juan Gris, Figure Seated in a Café (Man at a Table) (1914). via New York Times

Leonard Lauder, the former chairman of Estée Lauder and a noted collector of early 20th century art, has donated a vast collection of Cubist works to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, valued at more than $1 billion. (more…)