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The collection comes from Leatrice and Melvin Eagle. The Maryland couple has collected more than 160 works of contemporary craft over the last five decades. The one-of-a-kind pieces range from furniture and ceramics, to metalwork and fiber art. Curator Cindi Strauss says the collection offers a comprehensive look at the artistic inspiration and the technology involved in making contemporary pieces from the 1940’s to today.
“So that’s really why it’s sort of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have this kind of a collection. It’s not the kind of collection we could put together today, because the objects just are not out there.”
The Eagles began giving and selling pieces to the MFAH after they visited the museum four years ago. Strauss says the museum has already started putting objects from the collection in various installations.
“For example, right now in the American galleries, right by the Louis Comfort Tiffany window, you can see the great Wendell Castle lectern that’s part of the Eagle collection that’s on view.”
Strauss says the MFAH is planning to present a full exhibition of the Eagle Collection, complete with catalog, in 2013.
