About the Walker Collection

The Walker Art Center’s Visual Arts Permanent Collection originated with holdings amassed by Thomas Barlow Walker, our institution’s founder. T. B. Walker collected an eclectic variety of objects, from European and American oil paintings to Chinese jades, Japanese ivory netsuke, and ancient Greek vases, all of which were on loan from his descendants. In 1940, with the support of T. B. Walker’s heirs and help from thousands of Minneapolis residents, a newly renamed Walker Art Center opened to the public. The Walker’s mission, and by extension its acquisition priorities, would focus on the art of the present moment. The collection pivoted toward acquiring works by artists of the day, such as Franz Marc, Lyonel Feininger, I. Rice Pereira, and Edward Hopper; in time, virtually all items acquired by T. B. Walker were deaccessioned, or removed from the collection. Under the purview of each Walker director—Daniel Defenbacher, H. Harvard Arnason, Martin Friedman, Kathy Halbreich, Olga Viso, and Mary Ceruti—the collection has embraced new acquisition priorities, resulting in a diverse and textured mid-sized collection with areas of thematic depth and monographic concentration.

Acquisitions are guided and informed by the Long-Range Acquisitions Plan (LRAP), a document created by the Visual Arts department curatorial team in close collaboration with the Chief Curator and Executive Director. LRAPs are generated through robust dialogue across a typically 16-month period and updated at approximately 5-year intervals. The Walker’s practice of using LRAPs was instituted in 1993, with updated iterations of the document issued in 2001, 2010, 2018, and 2024. LRAPs set the strategic direction for developing the Walker’s collection, outlining key values, strategies, and priorities. As the Walker has a small curatorial team, limited resources on which to draw in an ever-expanding art market, and limited gallery and storage capacity, the LRAP is an important roadmap to guide the team in making choices about which works to pursue to shape the collection.

The 2024 LRAP pursues acquisitions through a framework of three intersecting thematic lenses that reflect pressing issues identified by the curatorial team within cultural discourse today. Not considered comprehensive, these themes are understood to evolve, allowing the curatorial team to respond to changing discourses that affect the ways in which artists make work. The three thematic frameworks are:

1. Embodiment and lived experience at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and ability

2. Experiences of diaspora, migration, indigeneity, and sovereignty

3. Entangled ecologies

Each year the Walker’s collection grows through purchases and gifts. Works of art are purchased through designated endowed funds that generate income, a portion of which is used each year for acquisitions. Gifts of art come from collectors who believe that their treasured objects should be available to all. Creating a permanent legacy at the Walker through the gift of art is an important contribution to the future, adding depth and breadth to the collection.

For more information about making a gift of art to the Walker Art Center, please contact Lena Menefee-Cook, Visual Arts department coordinator, at 612-375-7691 or by email to lena.menefee-cook@walkerart.org.

Occasionally, the Walker removes artworks from its collection, in a process known as deaccessioning. The Walker abides by the Association of Art Museum Directors policies in instances of deaccessioning. The process begins with careful curatorial research and due diligence and includes thorough discussion with the Acquisitions Committee and Board. Artworks are formally deaccessioned following the recommendation of the Acquisitions Committee and then after Board approval.

Deaccessioning is a standard procedure and form of collection maintenance. Deaccessioning occurs in various instances, such as when artworks are discovered to be fraudulent, found to exist in duplicate, are irreparably damaged or in a condition that makes conservation or public presentation unfeasible, or are no longer consistent with the mission or collecting goals of the museum. Once deaccessioned, an artwork may be dispersed through exchange (for another work by the same artist), sale, gift, or destruction. Funds received from the sale of such artworks cannot be used for operations or capital expenses and may only be used for the acquisition of works in a manner consistent with the museum’s policy on the use of restricted acquisition funds.

Key deaccessions in the Walker’s history include:

• In 1988, a duplicate print by Helen Frankenthaler, which was sold at the height of the market to establish a fund for the acquisition of prints.

• In 1989, several works by mid-19th-century Hudson River School artists deemed to be out of the purview of a contemporary collection were auctioned. Auction proceeds were used to create the endowment for the T. B. Walker Acquisition Fund, which annually yields the largest draw for permanent collection purchases.

• In 1999, a duplicate of Ellsworth Kelly’s White Curves I (1978), an editioned metal wall sculpture, to make an exchange with the artist (along with a partial gift of funds) for Drawing Cut into Strips and Rearranged by Chance (1950), an early collage from a period of Kelly’s practice not previously represented in the collection.

• Between 2023 and 2025, numerous duplicate and triplicate prints, mid-century outdoor bronze sculptures, and unique paintings and sculptures were deaccessioned; some works had multiple copies, while unique works were of duplicated subject matter and date. The funds received through the deaccessioning process raised the value of endowed funds reserved for acquisitions by 25 percent.