The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art announce it has received a $9.6 million bequest from the estate of Charles H. Schwartz. This gift is the largest bequest received by the museum in its history, and will establish an endowment to expand and enhance the museum’s collection of English and European works of art from the 18th century and earlier in memory of the late Schwartz, a former museum member.
The creation of The Charles H. Schwartz Endowment Fund is timely in that the Wadsworth just appointed Oliver Tostmann the Susan Morse Hilles Curator of European Art to manage the museum’s world-renowned collection of European masterworks. Tostmann, who called this bequest a “game changer for the European collection,” is working with Linda Roth, Charles C. and Eleanor Lamont Cunningham Curator of European Decorative Arts, on a complete re-installation of European paintings, sculpture and decorative arts for the museum’s Morgan Memorial Building as part of the museum’s $33 million renovation project, due for completion September 2015.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art 600 Main Street Hartford CT 06013