Three paintings valued at $12.1 million dollars have been donated to the Ackland Art Museum‘s permanent collection of post-war and contemporary art.

The donation comes from longtime supporter of UNC and parent of three Carolina graduates, Jane Roughton Kearns.

The three paintings bequeathed to the Ackland consist of two by Joan Mitchell (1925-1992) and one by Milton Avery (1885-1965)

UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said the university is grateful to Kearns for her donations and her commitment to the Ackland.

“Her gift underscores the importance of the arts to our campus, to our community and to each of us — particularly at a time when our cultural institutions are providing important inspiration and joy through new virtual channels,” Guskiewicz said.

According to UNC, the Ackland’s permanent collection currently consists of more than 19,000 works of art. This includes North Carolina’s premier collections of Asian art and works on paper, as well as significant collections of European masterworks, 20th-century and contemporary art, and North Carolina pottery.

Katie Ziglar, the director of the museum, said these donated modernist paintings will help to fill the gaps in the Ackland’s collection.

“Grand paintings, with significant wall power, these paintings will enrich and enliven the University’s engagement with modern creativity, opening up questions about the role of abstraction and representation, the achievements of women artists, the relationship to tradition and so much else,” Ziglar said. “We are so thankful to Jane for her great generosity and delighted to be receiving these paintings.”

Untitled, 1962 © Estate of Joan Mitchell (photo via the Ackland Art Museum)

The Museum currently owns 10 works by Milton Avery, a key figure in American mid-century art.

Peter Nisbet, the deputy director for curatorial affairs at the Ackland, said “These drawings, watercolors and oils cover every decade of his [Avery’s] working life except for the 1950s, a lacuna now triumphantly filled by the promised gift of his lyrically beautiful landscape, Spring in New Hampshire.”

Originally from North Carolina, Kearns currently resides in Darien, Connecticut. She served as vice chair of the Carolina Performing Arts International Advisory Board and has supported Carolina Performing Arts, the College of Arts & Sciences and Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Kearns’ donation counts toward the University’s most ambitious fundraising campaign in history, For All Kind: the Campaign for Carolina, launched in October 2017. As of June 2020, the University has raised more than 76% of its goal to reach $4.25 billion by December 2022.

Lead photo courtesy of UNC.

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