Bill White collection
While the College built its permanent collection by buying pieces from artists’ exhibitions, another way to build a collection is through gifts.
Through his connection with New York City painter Lois Dodd, Ted Prescott helped facilitate the College’s receipt of the Bill White collection. White had shared a studio with Dodd, and the Prescotts would visit them during trips to the city.
The gift includes sculptures; 135 wax, plaster and clay maquettes; and 500 drawings in a range of styles representing influences gathered during a lifetime of continuous study. The collection is a full-circle moment for Messiah’s art enthusiasts.
“I arranged for an exhibition of Bill’s work the very first year Messiah’s Aughinbaugh Gallery was open, in March of 1982,” said Prescott. “His idea of the artist was not Promethean, and his artistic goals had an essential humility, favoring the subject over the artist. Bill worked within the long demanding tradition of human figure. It was his legacy to master that tradition and leave us a body of work that is by turns simple, keenly felt, beautiful and profound.”