The Aso O. Tavitian Foundation donated 331 works of art — which date from the 15th through 19th centuries — to the Clark Art Institute, the museum announced in a press release on Monday. The foundation also gifted $45 million to support a dedicated curator position at the museum and the construction of a new Aso O. Tavitian Wing, which will host the donated collection.
“We were absolutely delighted, honored, and just exceptionally happy because it is truly a transformational gift for the Clark,” Esther Bell, deputy director of the Clark, told the Record in an interview. “Any museum would be thrilled to receive a collection of this caliber.”
The gift comprises 132 paintings, 130 sculptures, 39 drawings, and 30 decorative arts objects from a “laundry list of some of the best known names in the history of art,” Bell said.
Notable portraits that will soon adorn the museum’s walls are Peter Paul Rubens’ Portrait of a Young Man (circa 1613–1615); Jacopo da Pontormo’s Portrait of a Boy (circa 1535–40); and Jacques Louis David’s Portrait of Dominique-Vincent Ramel de Nogaret (1820).
Future visitors will also have the opportunity to marvel at Jan van Eyck’s Madonna of the Fountain (circa 1440) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s Countess Matilda of Canossa (circa 1630–39).
“Tavitian was a collector of the very highest order,” Bell said. “He had exquisite taste, museum-quality taste… It’s an exceptional group of some of the finest masterpieces to have been collected in private hands.”
The foundation’s gift will join the Clark’s robust collection of paintings and sculptures — which ranges from the Renaissance to the end of the nineteenth century — and will bolster its existing selection of works from the Late Renaissance.
The gift also balances the museum’s existing strength in two-dimensional works with several sculptures from prominent artists including Bernini, Andrea della Robbia, Gil de Siloé, Claude Michel, and Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux. “As such, this collection forms a perfect complement and addition to the Clark’s current holdings,” the museum’s press release stated.
The Clark has plans to display many of the newly donated items in both the new wing and its existing permanent collection galleries. Annabelle Selldorf — principal of Selldorf Architects, who recently worked on two other renovations at the museum — will design the new wing, set to replace the bridge between the museum building and the Manton Research Center. It is expected to open in 2027 or 2028, according to the museum’s press release.
Part of the donation will also fund a new position at the museum, the Tavitian curator of early modern painting and sculpture, to oversee the works, conduct research, and organize related programming and exhibits. “It’s a really exciting opportunity to bring in a scholar in the early modern field to be a part of the Clark moving forward,” Bell said.
Tavitian, who had homes in New York City and Stockbridge, Mass., died in April 2020. He had several conversations with the Clark prior to his death about his intention to donate the works, which he had been collecting since 2004, the press release stated. He also wished to keep his collection intact so that the pieces could be displayed in one location.
Tavitian served as the CEO of the software development company SyncSort — now known as Precisely — from 1975 to 2008. Born in Bulgaria and of Armenian descent, he fled the Cold War and arrived in the United States in 1961. He pursued both a master’s in nuclear engineering and a doctorate in nuclear physics from Columbia.
A dedicated philanthropist, Tavitian also established his own foundation in 1995 to provide scholarships to students of Armenian and Bulgarian origin. He supported several arts organizations in the Berkshires, serving on the Clark’s board of trustees from 2006 to 2012. He loaned items from his personal collection to the Clark for the museum’s “Eye to Eye: European Portraits, 1450-1850” exhibition in 2011.
“Tavitian was a great friend to the Clark,” Bell said. “He was just an incredible philanthropist and patron of the arts.”
In interviews with the Record, professors also expressed enthusiasm about the new collection and the teaching opportunities it will present.
“As soon as I heard about it, I went and talked about it excitedly with my colleagues in our lounge area,” Professor of Art Peter Low said. “Everyone’s absolutely thrilled.”
When he taught introductory art history courses at the College in recent years, Low’s students were expected to visit the Clark for conferences and assignments. “The possibilities for that now will just expand enormously,” he said. “But I think that … the opportunities right across the board in our curriculum will increase.”
In an email to the Record, Professor of Art Elizabeth McGowan highlighted works in the collection by Van Eyck, Parmigianino, and Pontormo, which she thinks will enrich courses on early modernism in addition to the department’s introductory courses. “The Tavitian Foundation’s generous donation of over 300 works to The Clark Art Institute is, in a word, staggering,” she wrote.
Bell added that the additions will also attract visitors from beyond the College. “The Berkshires are already an art destination, but this will only make that more impactful,” she said. “I think from this exciting news to what’s happening at WCMA [Williams College Museum of Art] to the incredible programming at MASS MoCA … there’s so much momentum that we have right now, and it’s really exciting.”
