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Prominent New Acquisitions Add to McNay’s Growing Permanent Collection

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Recently-Opened Stieren Center for Exhibitions

Allows Museum to Display Many of its Recently Acquired Works

San Antonio, Texas — The addition of the new Jane & Arthur Stieren Center for Exhibitions at the McNay Art

Museum delivers more than 45,000 square feet of airy and modern exhibition space that allows the museum to

exhibit a majority of its recent acquisitions never before on view to the public. These new works include

paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs, theatre arts, and decorative arts from masters in their

respective fields.

 

“New acquisitions are crucial to the development of the museum. These works are great complements to the

collection that Mrs. McNay began and we have continued to build over the years,” said Dr. William J. Chiego,

director of the McNay. “With these new works and the reinstallation of our permanent collection, patrons

visiting since the opening of the new Stieren Center will enjoy a much greater experience throughout the

museum.”

 

The McNay’s sculpture collection has grown significantly over the years, expanding beyond the galleries to the

museum’s grounds and now into South Texas’ first outdoor sculpture garden, adjacent to the Stieren Center.

The museum’s newest sculptures, all of which can be seen in the new galleries and sculpture garden, include

Position Preferred by Chakaia Booker, Sabine Knights by John Chamberlain, and Margaretville Walnut by Raoul H

ague, as well as works from Ken Little and Kate Ritson, among others.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other notable new sculptures include Gabrielle Dumontet’s Medusa, a rare bronze incorporating electric light, and

Tony Cragg’s cast bronze Hole Head.  Among the first of the McNay’s large-scale figurative sculptures, Hole Head

demonstrates an emerging direction in the museum’s collecting.

 

 

In addition to new sculptures, the museum adds to its expansive collection of 19th-, 20th- and 21st century European and

American paintings with works including View of the Ravine of Civita Castellena by Jean-Charles Rémond, Duration

by Alexander Liberman, and an untitled oil on canvas by Friedel Dzubas.

Of the McNay’s new paintings, an untitled acrylic on canvas by Larry Poons is a particularly prized acquisition

as it is one of less than 40 classic optical paintings created by Poons between 1963 and 1968 using dot and

lozenge shapes.

The McNay has also added to its collection of prints, drawings, photographs, theatre arts, and decorative arts,

with works by artists including Alexandre Benois, Robert Moskowitz, Ernesto Pujol, Radcliffe Bailey, and

Francisco Toledo.

Some of the new acquisitions were gifts to the McNay while others were purchased by the museum through

various funds established by individuals and organizations to continue to build the museum’s collections.