Colby College Museum of Art

Since its founding in 1959, the Colby Museum has collected works on paper and several major gifts have had a transformative impact on these holdings. This includes gift of watercolors and other works by John Marin from Norma and John Marin Jr.; the establishment of the Alex Katz Collection in 1992; the partial gift, partial purchase of the Terry Winters print archive in 2002; and the bequest of Paul J. Schupf (1937–2019), which features a major collection of Richard Serra prints. In addition to the Marin family gifts, Norma Marin offered a promised gift of her exemplary collection of German Expressionist prints and American photographs, and the museum’s photography collection has greatly benefited from the Tsiaras Family Photography Collection, 500 photographs collected by Colby alumnus Dr. William Tsiaras ’68. The gift of the Lunder Collection in 2013, and a second gift in 2017, when the Lunder Institute of American Art was established, brought hundreds of works by James McNeill Whistler to Colby and this collection has grown to include additional works by Whistler as well as gems from the history of Japanese and European printmaking. The Lunder Collection also includes notable depth in the works of Mary Cassatt, Arthur Wesley Dow, and Jacob Lawrence. With the Lunder Collection as a touchstone, the Curator of Works on Paper and Whistler Studies manages the Lunder Consortium for Whistler Studies with other organizational partners in the field, representing Colby in this international consortium. This includes sustaining relationships, envisioning and shaping impactful projects, and ensuring opportunities for students to learn and gain professional experience as part of the consortium’s initiatives.