Walker Art Center Collections

History and Overview
The Walker's permanent collection has its origins in the mid-1870s with acquisitions made by lumber magnate Thomas Barlow Walker, who built an eclectic personal collection ranging from European paintings and sculpture to Asian porcelains, Chinese jade carvings, and Southwest Indian artifacts. In the 1940s, the Walker's focus on contemporary art began with the acquisition of works by important artists of the day, including sculptures by Pablo Picasso, Henry Moore, and Alberto Giacometti and paintings by Edward Hopper, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Franz Marc. During the 1960s, the Walker formalized its commitment to contemporary art, and works by young artists such as Andy Warhol, Chuck Close, George Segal, Donald Judd, Dan Flavin, and Claes Oldenburg were acquired; this commitment to nurturing artists early in their careers continues today.

The highlights of these collections are numerous. Within the visual arts holdings of some 11,000 objects, there are Minimalist sculptures and paintings, including seven by Donald Judd, three by Dan Flavin, and two each by Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, and Agnes Martin; these are augmented by drawings and prints in which the same artists explore their ideas on paper. There is a rich representation of the Italian Arte Povera movement, with works by eight of its major figures, and a concentration of paintings by the mid-century Japanese Gutai group--both unusual choices for an American museum. A large number of artists--including Matthew Barney, Robert Gober, Ellsworth Kelly, Sherrie Levine, Claes Oldenburg, and Andy Warhol--are represented in depth, offering viewers an extended assessment of each career. Editioned works are a strong focus: there are more than 500 objects by the wide-ranging international group known as Fluxus, 500 multiples by influential German artist Joseph Beuys, and concentrations of prints and multiples by Katharina Fritsch, Sigmar Polke, and Rirkrit Tiravanija. The Walker has the only complete archives of graphic works by Jasper Johns and Robert Motherwell, as well as hundreds of prints from the archives of Tyler Graphics Workshop, which collaborated with such masters as Helen Frankenthaler, Joan Mitchell, and Frank Stella. The Visual Arts Study Collection contains models, working drawings, and other preparatory materials related to objects within the larger holdings. Within the Ruben/Bentson Film and Video Study Collection, one finds nearly 800 titles, including an unusually rich group of experimental films from the 1960s and 1970s by Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage, Bruce Conner, Paul Sharits, and many others, as well as the complete catalogue of films by William Klein and a clutch of rare early-20th-century films from the Soviet Union. The Walker holds more than 1,200 artists' books and multiples as well as ada'web, an early and historically significant archive of Internet-based art. In the performing arts, choreographers Trisha Brown, Merce Cunningham, and Bill T. Jones together account for 21 residencies and 38 performances over five decades, and have been commissioned to make 11 new works--a significant contribution to the development of contemporary dance and an immeasurable enrichment of this community's cultural life. In recent years, the Walker has tended to collect around the edges of the obvious, distinguishing itself by embracing hybrid or otherwise unclassifiable works that might fall between the cracks in more traditional institutions.

In the Shop



Bits & Pieces Put Together to Present a Semblance of a Whole: Walker Art Center Collections
A primer on contemporary art, the Walker's catalogue captures the institution's multidisciplinary history and reflects many of its commissions and extensive collections of paintings, sculptures, prints, photography, design, film/video, new media, and performing arts. The 616-page volume includes some 350 artist entries coauthored by the Walker's curators and alumni as well as contributions from a select group of novelists, poets, and critics. $45 ($40.50 Walker members)