Kamen Gallery: A Passion for Art The Collection of Eugene M. and Judith F. Kramer

"A Passion for Art:"
The Collection of Eugene M. and Judith F. Kramer

Exhibition: November 6, 2017 – June 30, 2018
Reception: November 14, 2017 at 5:30 p.m.
Lenfest Center/Kamen Gallery

In the late 1950s, Washington and Lee University 1940 alumnus Eugene M. Kramer and his wife Judith were active partners in the Gres Gallery, a significant leader in contemporary art in Washington D.C. before it closed in 1962. Through their connections, travels, and love of art, the couple amassed a small but significant collection of works by leading artists of the second half of the 20th century. Several pieces in the Kramer collection were purchased at the Gres Gallery, including an early work by Colombian artist Fernando Botero. Other notable artists in the collection include Rufino Tamayo, Max Ernst, Antoni Tàpies, Grace Hartigan and Sam Gilliam.

Organized by the University Collections of Art & History, the exhibition is generously loaned by the collectors’ son, Richard E. Kramer, a 1969 W&L alumnus with a long career in theater. The collection will hang in the Kamen Gallery, Lenfest Hall, a particularly appropriate venue since Gene Kramer was an active member of the Lenfest Center development committee before it opened in 1991.