New Exhibit Surveys The Ringling

SARASOTA – The Ringling presents its latest exhibition, A Decade of Collecting, to share a glimpse into its acquisition trajectory for the past eleven years. By gift or purchase, over the last eleven years, Ringling has acquired more than 12,000 works of art, more than in all the previous decades combined. The exhibition opens October 22, 2022, in the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing of The Ringling and will be accessible to the public until January 22, 2023.

"A museum is a living, breathing collection of works, reflecting and commenting on the human culture," offered Ringling director Steven High in a press release. "This decade has been seminal in diversifying and representing all cultures."

The works in the exhibition represent less than one percent of what has been acquired by Ringling since 2011. Nearly 98 percent were gifted to the collection, many from local donors, but some from as far away as Tokyo or Paris. Though museum purchases were a small percentage of the overall acquisitions, they make up 37 percent of the works on display.

In 2011 The Ringling completed the installation of its largest and most expensive acquisition of contemporary art, the Skyspace by James Turrell entitled "Joseph’s Coat." The opening of "Joseph’s Coat" stimulated the largest acquisition program in The Ringling’s history.

Featured works include a rare Dutch roemer (drinking vessel) from 1678; contemporary photography by such international artists as Endia Beal, Wang Qingsong, Doug and Mike Starn, and Rania Matar; paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Mickalene Thomas, Jon Schueler, and Gajin Fujita; and sculptures by Zhan Wang, Vanessa German, and Bryan Hunt, to name only a few of the 84 artists represented. A Decade of Collecting presents a unique snapshot of how The Ringling’s collections continue to evolve, allowing us to tell new stories of the past, present, and future.