A Lot of Good Stuff

1960s Collection Donors

People were happy to help grow the collection from the beginning.

We started out as not a collecting institution, which was the simplest thing to do. But as we grew up, reached our few years, we decided, "Yeah, we're established enough that, let's start a permanent collection." And it was not designed that way, but it was inevitably going to have to happen. Because you cannot keep an institution re-creating everything all the time. So then, we grew up a year or two. We started keeping a few things. We kept even more things. People wanted to give stuff to us. We didn't have to extract things, because a lot of people wanted to give their things they loved, and really didn't want to sell, and would give it to the institution—which is a twofer for them. And it wasn't difficult to get a lot of good stuff.

Marisol with Six Women, 1965-66. Photo: Courtesy of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA

Marisol with Six Women, 1965-66. Photo: Courtesy of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA

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