Treasures of Venice [antikvár]

THE MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE OF ARTS is proud to have worked with the Szépművészeti Múzeum in Budapest, Hungary, which has been extremely generous in lend, ing highlights from their world-famous collection of Venetian paintings for this exhibition, which will bring them to new, appreciative audiences across the United States. Our cities and museums have much in common. Both Budapest and Minneapolis/St. Paul are "twin cities" divided by great rivers. Our institutions were both founded in the last two decades of the nineteenth century, and our beaux.arts, neoclassical buildings were erected early in the twentieth century. The Szépművészeti Múzeum is well known for the depth and range of its collection of paintings by Venetian masters of the sixteenth through the eighteenth centuries, and Minneapolis has also developed its Venetian collection over the years to represent this great tradition, admittedly on a more modest scale. The artistic importance of this exhibition is mirrored in the historical opportunities it represents. This new era of cultural collaboration will serve as an effective bridge between our countries. Our new freedom of communications has made this opportunity possible, and we can only hope that it represents the beginning of a bright future of cultural collaboration and exchange projects in the arts. I would like to express our most grateful thanks to Miklós Mójzer, director of the Szép. művészeti Múzeum, and his colleagues for their constant support and work to make this project a reality. Thanks are also due to our other authors, Dr. Klára Garas, former director of the museum in Budapest, and Dr. Philip Sohm, for their catalogue essays. I would also like to thank my museum colleagues and friends, Ned Rifkin, director of the High Museum in Atlanta; Jay Gates, former director, and Mimi Neill, director of the Seattle Art Museum, for their helpful and constant support. The logistics of crating and transporting the pictures for this exhibition, especially those requiring microclimates, are complex. I wish to thank Cathy Ricciardelli, the registrar of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, for so capably coordinating this aspect of the project. A very special thanks to Dr. George Keyes, Patrick and Aimee Butler Curator of Paintings at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, for his excellent work in avorganizing the project with Dr. István Barkóczi and for his scholarly contributions as an author and editor of the catalogue. Warm thanks also go to Dr. Jane Satkowski, of the department of paintings, who edited the catalogue along with Dr. Keyes and Dr. Barkóczi. This vital project was supported by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which also is underwriting the critically important interna, tional insurance indemnification. Evan M. Maurer, Director Minneapolis Institute of Arts