Timed to commemorate the centenary of Fred Meijer's birth and to celebrate his role as one of America's foremost patrons of the arts, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park is honored to announce A National Treasure: Fred Meijer, His Collection and Legacy. Opening on February 1, 2019, this exclusive exhibition is a celebration of Meijer's desire to build a world-class sculpture collection. This exhibition will run through August 25, 2019 and will display eleven different 'chapters', each based around original works of art from Meijer Gardens' permanent collection as well as exclusive loans from sculptors and galleries that Meijer knew and admired. In addition, the exhibition will debut a series of important recent acquisitions to Meijer Gardens' permanent collection.

A National Treasure: Fred Meijer, His Collection and Legacy examines Meijer's passion for sculpture, his growth as a collector and his profound commitment to engage diverse audiences through his collection. Each facet of Meijer's collection is explored in this exhibition, including early ideas for a sculpture park and ways that the collection would be integrated across the gardens and grounds of what would become Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. The exhibition follows Meijer's journey as a collector and patron of the arts, with rare insight into the creation of one of the world's greatest collections of Modern and Contemporary sculpture.

'One of the many things that I admired about Fred Meijer was that he was a lifelong learner and enjoyed finding out about new sculptors and their work with each acquisition,' said Laurene Grunwald, Director of Sculpture, Exhibitions and Installations at Meijer Gardens. 'He never sought to collect for himself, but to enrich the lives of others.'

Frederik Meijer Gardens And Sculpture Park

, 2018. Installation view. Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA. Photograph by Chuck Heiney.

A National Treasure: Fred Meijer, His Collection And Legacy

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