The Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Washington, has scored a coup as the recipient of a $14-million gift from Becky Benaroya, who, with her late husband, Jack, has been acknowledged as among the most generous and powerful Seattle art patrons. In the Benaroyas seven decades of marriage, they assembled a collection of 225 works of art, with an emphasis on Studio Glass and regional Northwest painters and sculptors. For Becky Benaroya's 93rd birthday, she has promised not only the Benaroya art collection, but nearly $14 million to pay for a new wing at the TAM to house it, as well as to finance the salary of a dedicated curator of the collection and its upkeep.
Today, the museum announced not only the gift but plans to contruct a 7,390-square-foot gallery adition to be designed by architect Tom Kundig of the Olson Kundig architecture firm. Kundig is the same architect who designed the museum's Haub Family Galleries, which opened in 2014.
"We're deeply honored and grateful for this incredible gift to Tacoma," said the museum's executive director Stephanie Stebich in a prepared statement. "We are very pleased to celebrate Becky's generosity and this exemplary collection with a preview exhibition in October 2016, to give everyone a taste of what is to come when the new galleries open. For Becky to make this extraordinary gift to the public on her birthday is inspiring and we are forever grateful."
With the addition of the promised Benaroya gift, which includes 150 works in glass, TAM's Studio Glass collection will grow to nearly 1,000 pieces. The glass holdings include a permanent exhibition of Tacoma-native Dale Chihuly's work, the Ann Hauberg collection, and the Paul Marioni collection. TAM curator Rock Hushka characterizes the Benaroya works coming into the museum as "among the best of the best" Studio Glass collections, featuring work by Sonja Blomdahl, Dale Chihuly, Joey Kirkpatrick and Flora C. Mace, Dante Marioni, Paul Marioni, Richard Marquis, Benjamin Moore, William Morris, Charles Parriott, Maxi Powers, Ginny Ruffner, Cappy Thompson, Toots Zynsky, and many more.
The Benaroyas longtime support of the Pilchuck Glass School is evident in theinternational artists' work in the collection, including pieces by Howard Ben Tré, Kyohei Fujita, Stanislav Libenský and Jaroslava Brychtová, Raymond Martinez, Jay Musler, Livio Seguso, Lino Tagliapietra, and Bertil Vallien, among others. Art Deco glass by Daum and Lalique also figure into the Benaroya holdings.
"We approached TAM for many reasons; chief among them was the Museum's focus on Northwest art," said Becky Benaroya in a prepared statement. "We believe that our collection fits beautifully with TAM's holdings and mission. We also wanted to keep the collection together and in the Northwest ... Jack especially was passionate about the studio glass movement and we were early supporters. Finding the right home for our works is a very personal matter. This choice reflects and honors Jack's vision, and now sustains his legacy, to have these works on public view to inspire generations to come. It makes me very happy that he will be remembered in this way."
The gift fits well with the museum's evolving mission to showcase regional artists identified with the Northwest U.S. The TMA's growing collection includes the largest retrospective museum collection of glass art by Dale Chihuly on permanent view.