THOMAS HARTSHELBY
Philanthropist, political activist, and collector Barbara Lee has donated 20 works by 12 female artists to the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, the New York Times reported today.
The works, by Eva Hesse, Kara Walker, and others, are estimated at $42 million altogether and represent the most expensive gift the museum has ever received.
Last year, Lee, who serves as vice chair of ICA Boston’s board of trustees, also donated 43 works by women artists to the museum, which led to the creation of ICA Boston’s Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women.
Lee, who appears on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list, has been long supported female artists, and in 2014 unloaded a 1962 Warhol Marilyn painting for $41 million at auction to fund purchases of artwork by women.
Below, a full list of the works donated.
Carol Bove
Innerspace Bullshit, 2007
Fourteen books, comic book, letter, bronze sculpture, Marfa rock, ocean ephemera, mirror, and pamphlet on wood and metal shelves
42 x 36 1/8 x 12 inches (107 x 91.8 x 30.5 cm)
Dara Birnbaum
Kiss the Girls: Make Them Cry, 1979
Two channel video (color, sound; 06:26 minutes), and flight cases
Dimensions variable
Ellen Gallagher
DeLuxe, 2004–05
Photogravure, etching, aquatint, and drypoints with lithography, screenprint, embossing, tattoo-machine engraving, laser cutting, and chine collé; and additions of plasticine, paper collage, enamel, varnish, gouache, pencil, oil, polymer, watercolor, pomade, velvet, glitter, crystals, foil paper, gold leaf, toy eyeballs, and imitation ice cubes
Sixty parts, each 13 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches (34.3 x 26.7 cm); overall 84 x 176 inches (213 x 447 cm)
Eva Hesse
Ennead, 1966
Dyed string, papier-mâché, and paint
96 x 39 x 17 inches (244 x 99.1 x 43.2 cm)
Eva Hesse
Accession IV, 1968
Galvanized steel and rubber tubing
8 1/8 x 8 x 8 1/4 inches (20.6 x 20.3 x 21 cm)
Louise Bourgeois
Untitled, BOUR 0913, 1947-1949
Wood and paint
25 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 6 5/8 inches (64.1 x 26 x 16.8 cm)
Louise Bourgeois
Spiral Woman, 1951-52
Wood and steel
62 1/2 x 12 x 12 inches (159 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Louise Bourgeois
Spiral Woman, 1984
Bronze and slate
14 x 4 x 5 inches (35.6 x 10.2 x 12.7 cm); Slate disc: 1 1/4 x 34 3/4 inches (3.18 x 88.3 cm)
Louise Bourgeois
Cell (Hands and Mirror), 1995
Marble, metal, and mirror
63 x 48 x 45 inches (160 x 122 x 114 cm)
Marisol
Couple No 1, 1965-66
Wood, paint, fabric, electric motor, and mixed media
71 x 34 x 26 7/16 inches (180 x 86.4 x 67.2 cm)
Alice Neel
Portrait of Vera Beckerhoff, 1972
Oil on canvas
60 x 32 inches (152 x 81.3 cm)
Alice Neel
Margaret Evans Pregnant, 1978
Oil on canvas
57 3/4 x 38 inches (147 x 96.5 cm)
Cady Noland
Untitled, 1989
Screenprint on aluminum
72 x 48 inches (183 x 122 cm)
Sherrie Levine
Chair Seat: 7, 1986
Casein on wood
18 x 18 x 2 1/4 inches (45.7 x 45.7 x 5.72 cm)
Sherrie Levine
Fountain (Buddha), 1996
Bronze
12 x 17 x 16 inches (30.5 x 43.2 x 40.6 cm)
Sherrie Levine
Untitled (Gold Knot: 6), 1987
Oil on wood
62 1/2 x 50 1/4 inches (159 x 128 cm)
Sherrie Levine
After Henri Matisse, 1985
Ink and graphite on paper
13 7/8 x 10 7/8 inches (35.2 x 27.6 cm)
Louise Lawler
Grieving Mothers (Attachment), 2005
Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome) 46 x 41 inches (117 x 104 cm)
Charline von Heyl
Untitled, 2003
Mixed media on paper
Ten parts, each 23 7/8 x 18 7/8 inches (60.6 x 47.9 cm)
Kara Walker
The Nigger Huck Finn Pursues Happiness Beyond the Narrow Constraints of your Overdetermined Thesis on Freedom – Drawn and Quartered by Mister Kara Walkerberry, with Condolences to The Authors, 2010
Cut paper and paint on wall and gouache and ink on paper
Approximately 57 feet
16 cut paper elements, dimensions variable; 7 framed works on paper, each 11 1/2 x 15 inches (29.2 x 38.1 cm)