Since Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.’s death in 1988, the Chrysler's collection has continued to grow, particularly in the area of contemporary art. During the early 1990s, the Museum sponsored a series of exhibitions of contemporary painting and sculpture—Parameters—that brought several works by emerging artists into the collection. One of these purchases, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s Trade, has since been recognized as a major statement of 1990s American painting.

At the same time, the Museum’s ever-expanding ranks of donors and supporters have sparked a genuine, community-wide interest in collection growth. Indeed, several important contemporary works acquired since 1993—by artists as varied as Nam June Paik, Elizabeth Murray, and Sam Gilliam—have come to us through generous, individual donations, many of them made by members of two of the Museum’s most active and valued Support Groups, the Mowbray Arch Society (established 1993) and the Chrysler Contemporaries (2000). By far the most generous recent gift of contemporary art has come from the family of Joel Cooper of Norfolk, who between 2002 to 2004 donated 21 paintings and sculptures of 1980s American art.

• Contemporary Art >

• Contemporary Art