Sharing ... Texas Style

Recent Art Acquisitions from the Blanton Museum of Art and The Contemporary Austin

...an art collection courses a pathway from Austin to Lubbock

The Museum of Texas Tech University received twenty-eight paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures and digital artworks as part of a gift-transfer from the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, Austin. On exhibit is a selection of ten of these artworks.

In the Spring of 2018, the Museum of Texas Tech received an invitation from the Blanton Museum to take part in the distribution of the art collection of the The Contemporary Austin museum. The Contemporary (formerly the Austin Museum of Art, the Laguna Gloria Art Museum, and the ArtHouse) had arranged in 2017 to transfer ownership of approximately 700 works of art to the Blanton. After selecting some 200 artworks for their own collection, the Blanton made plans to distribute over 500 of the remaining artworks to 17 Texas museums. The Museum of Texas Tech was one of those seventeen.

The collections of The Contemporary Austin were strongest in artwork by contemporary Texas artists and, as a result, the new acquisitions fit well into our Museum's collecting priorities that emphasize post-World War II art from the American Southwest.

This is, by no means, the first time that art-collecting museums in Texas have shared collections. Most importantly this collaboration brings attention to the good will and generosity that Texas museums have toward one another. The Museum of Texas Tech is indebted to the original donors of the artworks, The Contemporary Austin, and the Blanton Museum of Art for these important additions to our collection.

Peter S. Briggs Helen DeVitt Jones Curator of Art