Two Significant Collections Gifted To The Bowdoin College Museum Of Art

The Bowdoin College Museum of Art (BCMA) today announced the gift of two major collections of artworks that will significantly expand its holdings: nearly 350 works from the estate of Marion Boulton "Kippy" Stroud (1939-2015), and the entire personal collection of artist Walter Pach (1883-1958). Totaling over 1,500 objects, the Pach and Stroud Collections will greatly enhance the encyclopedic collection, with the addition of new works that complement the Museum's existing holdings or by artists who are not currently represented.

Marion Boulton "Kippy" Stroud was the founder of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia and Acadia Summer Arts Program (ASAP) on Maine's Mount Desert Island in the 1980s, known as "Kamp Kippy." The BCMA will receive a selection of contemporary and historical works from Stroud's collection, including works by Dawoud Bey, Cai Guo-Qiang, Alfredo Jaar, Carrie Mae Weems, and Ann Hamilton. Many of these works were given to Stroud as gestures of appreciation from artists who participated in "Kamp Kippy," and frequently include personal inscriptions commemorating their time in Maine.

Best known as one of the organizers of the 1913 Armory Show, Walter Pach was a prolific artist, curator, and author who was instrumental in shaping modernism in the United States. The Pach Collection includes approximately 420 prints, 4,000 drawings (included within many multipage notebooks), 213 watercolors, and 427 paintings (including the artist's portraits of Frida Kahlo and Rufino Tamayo), as well as 24 books written and translated by Walter Pach, providing the most comprehensive record of Pach's career as a visual artist and his contributions to the promotion of modernism.