Inquirer Editorial: Grand gesture
The newest jewel in the Philadelphia Museum of Art treasure trove is a 97-work collection that may tend toward minimalist tastes. But there's nothing bare-bones about its likely impact on the museum, its patrons, and the region's cultural landscape.
The newest jewel in the Philadelphia Museum of Art treasure trove is a 97-work collection that may tend toward minimalist tastes. But there's nothing bare-bones about its likely impact on the museum, its patrons, and the region's cultural landscape.
Indeed, the decision by collectors Keith and Katherine Sachs to donate a substantial portion of their collection - whose acquisition poignantly represents a scrapbook of their 45-year marriage - requires a grand gesture in response. That came from museum officials this week with the renaming of the galleries of modern and contemporary art for the couple.
In addition to bringing before the public works from such greats as Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, and many others, the gift represents what one museum official aptly described as "a high and happy note for Philadelphia's future as a great cultural destination." Amid such generosity, that future looks bright.