CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART RECEIVES $3 MILLION GIFT

The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) in Ohio has been gifted $3 million from William and Amanda Madar. The funds were used to establish the position of curator of American painting and sculpture. The museum’s incumbent curator, Mark Cole, who has been with the CMA since 2006, will be the first to take on the role.

“This very generous gift from Bill and Amanda Madar is the latest demonstration of their extraordinary commitment to the CMA,” said museum director William Griswold. “This gift recognizes the wonderful talents of our curator, Mark Cole, and provides dedicated funding to support new scholarship and our capacity to share the museum’s outstanding collection of American painting and sculpture.”

Cole completed the reinstallation and reinterpretation of the museum’s holdings of American painting and sculpture as part of the institution’s recent renovation and expansion. He also oversaw the acquisition of works such as Edmonia Lewis’s Indian Combat, 1868, and Norman Lewis’s Alabama, 1960, and presented several exhibitions, including “William H. Johnson: American Modern” (2012–13); “Maine Sublime: Frederic Church’s ‘Twilight in the Wilderness’” (2014–15); “Brand-New & Terrific: Alex Katz in the 1950s” (2017); and, most recently, “Georgia O’Keeffe: Living Modern” (2018–19).

The Madars have been involved with the museum for many years. William has been a CMA trustee since 2005 and previously served as the chair of its Finance Committee and a member of the Executive and Campaign Committees, among others. Amanda has been an honorary member of the Women’s Council since 1996 and is a former Ingalls Library volunteer.