A Transformative Gift from the Lunders
Dear Colby Community,
It is with deep gratitude and humility that I share the news that Peter and Paula Lunder, longtime supporters of Colby and the Colby College Museum of Art, have made yet another remarkable gift to the College. Following their 2013 gift of hundreds of works of art that transformed the Museum into one the finest college art museums in the country, the Lunders have committed an astounding 1,150 additional works of art as well as funds to support museum programs and establish and endow the Lunder Institute for American Art, a global research center dedicated to scholarly and creative exchange across disciplines.
The gift, valued at more than $100 million, includes works by more than 150 artists that expand the Lunder Collection both historically and geographically including Romare Bearden, Mary Cassatt, Olafur Eliasson, Jacob Lawrence, Maya Lin, Julie Mehretu, Joan Mitchell, Georgia O’Keeffe, Claes Oldenburg, Pablo Picasso, Betye Saar, Vincent Van Gogh, Rembrandt van Rijn, Ai Weiwei, Fred Wilson, and James McNeill Whistler. The Lunder Collection, already prized as one of the most important collections of American art assembled by private collectors, will reach new levels of prominence and become an unparalleled asset for teaching and scholarship.
The Lunder Institute for American Art will be a defining element of the intellectual and creative experience at Colby. It will house a fellowship program that will bring the world’s leading artists, researchers, curators, and emerging scholars to Colby for cross-disciplinary dialogue and discovery. The Museum and its collections will be the laboratory for these fellows, who will work with Colby faculty and students on a wide variety of artistic and multidisciplinary projects. The Lunder Institute will foster the creation of new artistic works, scholarship across a range of fields, innovative exhibition and education programs, and a much richer understanding of American art in a transnational context. Fellowship visits will take place throughout the academic year and during the summer. More about the institute is at lunderinstitute.colby.edu.
The Lunders’ commitment is transformative not only for Colby and the Museum but for Waterville and Maine. Our efforts to bring more economic and cultural vitality to the area have been enhanced by the local arts landscape, and this latest gift will allow us to more fully leverage these existing strengths to make Central Maine a destination for the arts. It has always been important to Peter and Paula Lunder, longtime Waterville residents who raised their children in a home on Mayflower Hill Drive, that their art be accessible to the people of Maine. This gift marks another milestone in meeting that vision.
Peter Lunder is a 1956 graduate of Colby and a life overseer of the College. Paula Lunder is a life trustee of Colby, having served on the board since 1998. They both received honorary degrees from the College in 1998 and currently serve on the Museum’s Board of Governors. They are Colby’s most ardent and cherished supporters. Those of us who have been fortunate to be embraced by the Lunders are humbled by their grace and selflessness, devotion to family, insights and accomplishments, and passion for making the world better for the next generation. They are truly extraordinary.
This gift places Colby among an increasingly rare group of colleges and universities that are true centers of excellence in the arts and humanities. The arts and humanities have never been more essential to the liberal arts mission. It is through these disciplines that we understand what it means to be human, to create, and to live amongst one another with an appreciation for all of our beautiful complexities.
Thanks to Peter and Paula Lunder, Colby College and the Colby College Museum of Art will be beacons in the centuries to come for all those in search of the splendor and provocation of art and the revelation of the human condition that comes through humanistic study and an appreciation for creative expression across cultures and generations.
David A. Greene
President