In what curator Scott A. Schweigert calls one of the largest and most valuable bequests in the museum’s 120-year history, the Reading Public Museum has received the second generation from the estate of Dr. Luther Brady, a Philadelphia oncologist and a longtime patron of the arts who died in 2018 at the age of 92.
From left to right: Jules Olitski (1922-2007), New Love, 1964, acrylic on canvas, 46½ x 35 in. © Estate of Jules Olitski; Helen Frankenthaler (American, 1928-2011), Untitled, oil on canvas, 18 x 19 in. © Estate of Helen Frankenthaler; Hans Hofmann 1880-1966), Furioso, 1963, oil on canvas, 60 x 52 in. © Estate of Hans Hofmann; Robert Motherwell (1915-1991), Spanish Death VI, 1977, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 9 in. © Dedalus Foundation, Inc.; and Adolph Gottlieb (1903-1974), Shadows and Halos, 1968, oil and enamel on canvas board, 20 x 24 in. © Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation.
The gift includes over 120 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by important 20th- and 21st-century artists that include iconic abstract expressionists Hans Hofmann, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolph Gottlieb, Esteban Vicente, Friedel Dzubas and Kenzo Okada. These paintings will join works by American modernists Jules Olitski, Frank Stella, Louise Nevelson, George Segal and Nancy Graves, among others.
Additional works represent British artists Howard Hodgkin, Henry Moore, Lynn Chadwick and Antony Gormley. Also featured are works by important Native American modernist Fritz Scholder and Kevin Red Star, as well as paintings by Paul Pletka, who is known for his heroic portraits of Indigenous peoples. Leading Philadelphia-area artists such as Liz Osborne, Thomas Chimes, Edna Andrade, Murray Dessner, Diane Burko, David Fertig and Jimmy Leuders are also among the paintings to enter RPM’s collection as part of the Brady bequest.
“The gifts from the estate will join the approximately 100 works previously donated by Dr. Brady between 2002 and 2018,” says Schweigert. “Dr. Brady’s art collection was built over a period of approximately seven decades, during which he forged personal relationships with many of the world-renowned painters and sculptors. We are so grateful to Dr. Brady and his keen eye for high quality works that will now enrich our visitors’ experience at RPM.”
William A. Smith (1918-1989), Portrait of Dr. Luther Brady, 1980. Oil on canvas, 64¼ x 30 in. Bequest, Dr. Luther W. Brady.
The Reading Public Museum will display many of the works in an exhibition in the Jerome I. Marcus American Gallery and the Irvin and Lois E. Cohen Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art through January 7, 2024. Dr. Brady’s estate also made a major concurrent donation of art to his alma mater George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The two institutions will both host exhibits featuring the recent donations and co-publish a catalogue of some of the key works to enter each institution’s collections.
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