Fenimore Art Museum Opens American Masterworks Gallery with $33.8 Million Thaw Collection

Key facts

• The American Masterworks Gallery opens to the public on Saturday, September 26th.
• The gallery is a renovation of the former Main Gallery, which last housed folk art.
• A $33.8 million gift from the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust funded the acquisition of 27 American artworks in 2023 and 2024.
• Artists in the new collection include Albert Bierstadt, Mary Cassatt, William Merritt Chase, Frederic Edwin Church, Childe Hassam, Martin Johnson Heade, Robert Henri, George Inness, Eastman Johnson, Thomas Moran, Georgia O’Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, Max Weber, and James McNeill Whistler.
• The gallery will also display works donated by Stephen C. Clark during his lifetime and after his death in 1960.
• Paul D’Ambrosio, President and CEO, led the project and will retire on September 27th, becoming President Emeritus.
• Infrastructure upgrades include a new HVAC chiller system, vapor-barrier walls, energy-efficient windows, updated lighting, new flooring, and enhanced security.
• The project is supported by The Clark Foundation, Jacqueline Badger Mars, the Thaw Charitable Trust, Fernleigh Foundation, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas O. Putnam, Robert and Esther Black Family Foundation, Van Broughton Ramsey and Robert Nelson, and Richland County Foundation – Black Family Fund, among others.