Washington's Seattle University has recently received a massive art collection worth $300 million, which is currently the largest any United States university has ever received.
In addition, the institution was also given $25 million as venture capital to set up the new Seattle University Museum of Art.
The unprecedented gift was from art collector and property developer Richard Hedreen, whose donated collection comprises over 200 art pieces ranging back to the 15th century.
The 'Larger Purpose' of Richard and Betty Hedreen's Art Collection
According to a public release by the university press, Hedreen pledged the expansive art assemblage in honor of his late partner, Elizabeth "Betty" Ann Petri Hedreen, who is an alumna of the Jesuit Catholic institution.
The Seattle Times has even said Hedreen's expansive collection broke the mold in this monumental donation, at least considering how other expansive art collections were managed in recent times.
Typically, impressive assemblages of art such as this one are sold in auctions rather than being donated, an example of which is the late Microsoft founder Paul Allen's own collection that was sold through Christie's "Visionary: The Paul G. Allen Collection."
"Betty and I always felt that we were custodians of the artworks we acquired, holding them in trust for a larger purpose," said Hedreen. "The Jesuits place a special focus on the arts and humanities, including art history, and that has long been reflected in Seattle University's Jesuit education and its connections to the Seattle arts community."
"My goal is to keep the collection together in the new Seattle University Museum of Art, which will have a profound and lasting impact on students and faculty," he added.
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The History Behind Hedreen's Collection
Hedreen, the 88-year-old Seattle native, built his career in the hotel and property industry after establishing his general contracting company: RC Hedreen Co., which eventually became a core part of the city's development of hotels.
He met his late wife, Betty, when she was still a student, and thereafter, the couple then went on to build up their expansive collection that comprises art pieces from both the Old Masters and current contemporary giants.
Before Hedreen's recent donation, the couple had also previously gifted part of their collection to the Seattle Art Museum, an institution where Betty once served as a member of the board of trustees, alongside prior gifts to both the National Gallery of Art and the Seattle University.
Reuniting the priorly donated pieces with the rest of the couple's collection, Hedreen is now giving the Jesuit Catholic institution artworks from the likes of historical artists like Titian, Jacopo da Pontormo, Jan Lievens, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Luis Melendez, Thomas Gainsborough, Willem de Kooning, Robert Rauschenberg, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Indiana.
The collection also includes prints by British painter Lucian Freud and photographs by preeminent lensmen and artists Berenice Abbott, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Irving Penn, Louis Stettner, and Andy Warhol, alongside six pieces by contemporary painter Cecily Brown.
Of the gift, Seattle University President Eduardo Peñalver said in the release: "Since their earliest days, the Jesuits have recognized the visual arts as a powerful tool of communication and teaching, and the arts are an essential part of the holistic Jesuit model of higher education."
"Seattle University is honored to receive this transformational gift from the Hedreens, who have built one of the finest private art collections in the nation," he continued.
