Vital relationships

MFA Shows List :: The Boston Globe

With the art market sky high, museums often can't afford to buy new works. Instead, they must depend on the generosity of donors. One way for a museum to nurture a relationship with a collector is to show his or her art. Here are four recent examples of MFA shows featuring the works of collectors, along with pieces the collector gave the MFA. The list is not complete, and the details of arrangements vary.

Show

2001: ''Japan at the Dawn of the Modern Age: Meiji Prints From the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Collection."

Gift

A series of Japanese pieces including hairpins, woodblock printed books, and lithographs.

Show

2003: ''A Singular Vision: The Melvin Blake and Frank Purnell Legacy."

Gift

Sixty works in total were accepted by the MFA, including the museum's first work by Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte and British artist Lucian Freud.

Show

2003-2004: ''Chinese Jades From the Hartman Collection"

Gift

Alan and Simone Hartman, New York collectors, gave the MFA 111 pieces of antique silver made in London (not jades).

Show

2004: ''Art of the Japanese Postcard: The Leonard A. Lauder Collection."

Gift

Lauder, the cosmetics company mogul and head of the board of the Whitney Museum of American Art, gave the MFA 25,000 postcards.