WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A $150,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation will make more than 5,000 works of art from Purdue Galleries available online to scholars and art lovers around the world.
Purdue Galleries has received this essential grant from the Henry Luce Foundation to support Purdue Galleries: Accessing the Collection, a two-year project to digitize and publish its permanent collection. The grant will support a full-time curator for the duration of the project who, with the help of interns, will research, catalog, photograph and digitize the collection of over 5,000 works of art ranging from ancient to contemporary pieces, including sculptures, textiles, prints, paintings, photographs, drawings and ceramics.
Erika Kvam, Director and Chief Curator of Purdue Galleries, said, “Funding through the Luce Foundation grant will allow us to thoroughly research documents and photograph our vast collection of American and Native American art. We are excited that our collection will soon be available to a global audience and easily accessible to students, faculty and the public, which is a key part of the mission of Purdue Galleries and Purdue University.”
The Purdue Galleries collection is unique in that it contains a substantial amount of American and Native American art as well as other discrete holdings, including a collection of small-scale prints by American artists. The impact of researching, cataloging, digitizing and disseminating this collection goes beyond Purdue and will benefit classrooms and art scholars around the world.
Purdue Galleries has amassed a large and diverse collection of artwork that has been underutilized due to lack of physical and digital access. In fall 2020, the collection was moved to a new location on campus, doubling storage space and adding office and conference space, which was a barrier to physically accessing the collection. Digital access is the next step in making works of art available online to people around the world.
About the Luce Foundation:
The Henri Luce Foundation seeks to enrich public discourse by promoting innovative scholarship, training new leaders, and fostering international understanding. The Foundation advances its mission through grantmaking and leadership programs in the areas of Asia, higher education, religion and theology, art, and public policy.
About the galleries:
All Purdue Galleries exhibits and events are free and open to the public. For class and group visits, contact Erika Kvam at Purdue Galleries at 765-494-3061. For more information, visit the website or follow @PurdueGalleries on Facebook, Twitterand instagram.
August 2022