Denver, CO – January 17, 2008 – Bolstered by enthusiastic support from foundations, individuals, and government agencies, the Clyfford Still Museum today announced it has raised a total of nearly $25 million for the project to date. Of this total, the museum has more than $17 million pledged toward its $33-million capital campaign for the design and construction of its permanent facilities and has surpassed the halfway mark of its goal to build what will be the most comprehensive single artist museum in the world. The Still Museum also announced that it has raised an additional $5 million for its endowment campaign. Finally, the museum has garnered an additional $2.7 million to support the museum’s current operations and the conservation of the collection.
“We are thrilled to reach these three important milestones so early in our campaign and to garner such generous support for the development, realization, and ongoing operation of the Clyfford Still Museum,” said Director Dean Sobel. “Designed by Allied Works Architecture, the Still Museum will be an architecturally and culturally significant addition to Denver’s flourishing arts community and will provide visitors from the region and abroad with an unprecedented opportunity to experience the work of one of the most influential American artists of the 20th century.”
Support for the capital campaign was led by contributions from Denver-based foundations. Early supporters identified today making significant contributions include $4-million from Bonfils-Stanton Foundation, $3.25 million from the Anschutz Foundation, and $500,000 from the Boettcher Foundation. The Still Museum’s endowment campaign was launched by a gift of $500,000 from Merle C. Chambers and Hugh A. Grant through Chambers Family Fund and has been further enhanced by a $1-million bequest by Kent and Vicki Logan among other donations. In addition to capital and endowment gifts, the museum has been awarded over $200,000 in competitive grants from national foundations and organizations to aid the ongoing conservation of its collection, including grants from the Henry Luce Foundation and from Save America’s Treasures program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the National Park Service, US Department of the Interior.
“The tremendous support for the project, in particular from local and national foundations, is a testament to the enormous cultural value that the Clyfford Still Museum will bring to the city of Denver as well as to the arts community at large,” said Christopher Hunt, President, Board of Directors for the Clyfford Still Museum. “We hope to continue this momentum in our campaign as we look toward the opening of the museum in 2010.”
Designed by Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture, the Still Museum will provide an intimate environment in which to view and study the works from Clyfford Still’s Estate, the majority of which have never been seen before. Opening in 2010, the approximately 30,000- square-foot museum will accommodate gallery space for the legendary artist’s work and will feature a library and archives, educational facilities, collection storage, and an on-site conservation laboratory. Schematic designs for the new building will be unveiled to the public in the coming months.
In anticipation of its opening, the Clyfford Still Museum will continue to present an ongoing series of programs to provide the Denver community with an introduction to Still and his work. As part of this program, the Museum has extended the presentation dates of Clyfford Still Unveiled: Selections from the Estate, a special exhibition of 13 select works by Still, which will remains on view in the Denver Art Museum’s Hamilton Building through June 29, 2008.
About The Clyfford Still Museum
The Clyfford Still Museum was founded to promote public and scholarly understanding of the late artist’s work and legacy, through the presentation and preservation of the Clyfford Still Estate, totaling approximately 2,400 artworks bequeathed to the City of Denver in 2004.
Considered one of the most important painters of the twentieth century, Still (1904-1980) was among the first generation of Abstract Expressionist artists who developed a new, powerful approach to painting in the years immediately following World War II. Still’s estate—now understood to be 94 percent of the artist’s total output—as well as his extensive archive, have been sealed off from the public since 1980.
The Clyfford Still Museum will be located in Denver, Colorado, in the heart of the Civic Center Cultural Complex, near the Denver Art Museum and its new Daniel Libeskind-designed building, the Denver Public Library designed by Michael Graves, and the Colorado History Museum. For more information about the Clyfford Still Museum, please visit www.clyffordstillmuseum.org.