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Dia Receives Bequest of Six Paintings by Brice Marden from the Collection of Frances and John Bowes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2017

Dia Receives Bequest of Six Paintings by Brice Marden from the Collection of Frances and John Bowes

Gift Includes Cold Mountain Work First Exhibited at Dia in 1991–92

New York, NY – Dia Art Foundation announced today a bequest commitment from private collector and long-time trustee, Frances Bowes, who together with her late husband, John, has been an unwavering supporter of Dia since 1990. The gift includes six paintings by artist and former Dia trustee, Brice Marden.

“This incredible gift reinforces and expands the historical narratives of Dia’s holdings of abstract painting. We are delighted that one day Marden will be a permanent part of Dia’s collection,” said Jessica Morgan, Director, Dia Art Foundation. “For over twenty-five years, the Bowes have been tremendous supporters of Dia and this remarkable bequest is yet another example of their deep commitment to the institution.”

The six paintings by Marden demonstrate the depth and breadth of the artist’s practice, representing significant examples of his early multipart monochromatic paintings and later gestural works. The gift includes Rain Forest (1971), Miranda (1972), Green (Earth) (1983–84), 1 Grey (1987–88), Diagrammed Couplet #2 (1988–89), and Cold Mountain 3 (1989–91). Marden’s relationship with Dia has continued in various ways since the 1991–92 presentation of his Cold Mountain series at Dia Center for the Arts in New York, which included Cold Mountain 3. Most recently, the artist served as a member of Dia’s Board of Trustees from 2013 to 2015.

“I love these paintings by Brice, and am delighted to know that they will find a home at Dia where they can be enjoyed by future generations,” said Frances Bowes. “I am immensely proud of the Dia institution and this gift is a way I can honor it as it moves forward.”

A major figure in American painting since the late 1960s, Marden received an MFA from Yale University School of Art and Architecture in 1963. While attending Yale, he developed an interest in the process of mark making and the aesthetics of Minimalism alongside classmates such as Richard Serra. Marden’s early work combines the emotional charge and painterly facture of Abstract Expressionism with the reductive, often-repetitive visual logic of Minimalism. Like Anne Truitt, whose work was also recently added to Dia’s collection, and in opposition to the hardline Minimalism of Donald Judd, Marden embraced the possibility of finding emotional content within his canvases. In this context, Marden’s work complicates and expands Dia’s canonical presentation of Minimal art.

Dia Art Foundation
Founded in 1974, Dia Art Foundation is committed to initiating, supporting, presenting, and preserving extraordinary art projects. Dia:Beacon opened in May 2003 in Beacon, New York. Dia also maintains several long-term sites, including Walter De Maria’s The New York Earth Room (1977) and The Broken Kilometer (1979), Max Neuhaus’s Times Square (1977), and Joseph Beuys’s 7000 Eichen (7000 Oaks, which was inaugurated at Documenta 7 in 1982), all of which are located in New York City; the Dan Flavin Art Institute (established in 1983) in Bridgehampton, New York; De Maria’s The Lightning Field (1977) in western New Mexico; Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) in Great Salt Lake, Utah; and De Maria’s The Vertical Earth Kilometer (1977) in Kassel, Germany.

Dia presents temporary exhibitions and installations, performances, lectures, and readings on West 22nd Street in New York City.

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For additional information or materials, contact: Press Department, Dia Art Foundation, press@diaart.org or 212 293 5518

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