The National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington, DC has acquired 90 photographs from the Eileen and Michael Cohen Collection as a partial gift, negotiated by art dealer David Zwirner. The works were handed over to the museum for a “low six figure sum” according to Zwirner & Wirth, New York.
The dealer presented 64 of the photographs in the gallery’s 2007 show “Conceptual Photography”. Artists in the collection include Vito Acconci, Gordon Matta-Clark, Ana Mendieta, Bruce Nauman, Giuseppe Penone and Sigmar Polke. According to Kristine Bell, a partner at Zwirner & Wirth, it is important for the Cohens that the collection stays together; of the 90 photographs on offer, 36 were donated to the museum. Ms Bell added that in 2003, Mr Zwirner negotiated a similar purchase/gift with the Cohens’ collection of 102 works on paper dating from the 1960s and 1970s, which went to the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The Cohen works complement the NGA’s holdings of minimal and conceptual art from the Vogel Collection donated to the museum in 1992.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'Zwirner in museum deal'