UpDate - Vol. 11, No. 31, Page 9
May 14, 1992
Generous gifts; Gallery director considers it 'an exceptional year'

     This has been an exceptional year for acquistions of works of art
for the University Gallery, according to Belena Chapp, director.
     Since last October, through donations and purchases, the gallery
has acquired almost 200 works of art, from prints to sculptures, from
antique to contemporary works.
     Among the gifts received this year are a suite or series of
prints of playing cards by Salvador Dali;  photography by Ansel Adams;
small sculptures or maquettes by William Zorach; a 1937 photograph of
orchestra conductor Leopold Stokowski by Ray Jones; 37 icons from
Leslie Burgess and Dr. Sarah Jastak-Burgess; and an 18th century,
Ukranian icon from another donor.
     The donations will help the gallery fulfil its role as an art
center and teaching facility, Chapp said. The reputation of the
gallery is growing, she said, thanks to shows such as the successful
"Brandywine Valley to the Bay: Art from Private Collections"
exhibition last fall and the "University of Delaware Biennial Works on
or of Paper," a juried exhibition at the gallery that is national in
scope.
     The funds generated from the works on paper show enabled the
gallery to purchase 14 works from the show for its permanent
collection, such as the Rob Evans multimedia work, "Boundary Lines,"
Chapp said.
     "Donors, who are art lovers, appreciate the fact that their gifts
have a dual role," Chapp said. "Not only are works of art cared for
properly and displayed in appropriate settings, both here and on loan
to other institutions, but they also are used for educational purposes
in training students in a variety of fields, such as art, art history,
anthropology, museum studies and history.
     "The students learn museum standards and get hands-on experience
in conservation, research, cataloging and mounting exhibitions," she
said.
     The University Gallery and other institutions across the nation
also received a boost in donations from an unlikely source, the
Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The enactment of tax reform in 1986,
disallowing the market value of donations of art works, considerably
reduced the number of contributions to museums and other institutions.
U.S. Sen. Patrick Moynihan introduced an amendment, making 1991 a year
when donors could deduct the market value of gifts, and an IRS ruling
allowed the tax deductions from donations made in 1991 to be carried
over to other years.
     This gave collectors who were considering donating works of art
an added incentive, Chapp said, and museums and galleries all over the
country have benefited.
     "Thanks to the generosity of our friends and donors, our
strengths in such areas as works on paper have been enhanced, and our
collection has become more diverse. We are planning some exciting
exhibitions in the future from the gallery's collection to share the
works of art that have been entrusted to us," Chapp said.
     -Sue Swyers Moncure