Fort Wayne art museum receives $6.2M collection

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - An art museum in Fort Wayne has received more than 200 paintings and 500 prints by an acclaimed American artist.

The Fort Wayne Museum of Art announced Monday it has been given the works by the estate of artist David Shapiro, who passed way in 2014 after a battle with cancer. The estimated $6.2 million value of the collection makes it the largest gift the museum has ever received.

The Journal Gazette (http://bit.ly/2eBkCtz ) reports it's unclear why Fort Wayne was chosen to receive the items, and the newspaper couldn't reach the museum curator Monday.

John Hrehov, chairman of Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne's fine arts department, describes Shapiro's work as "really elegant minimalism."

Shapiro's work can be found in numerous private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York.

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Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net