Since 1975, the Friends of Kresge Art Museum has supported the museum's collecting initiatives. Their substantial financial support, garnered through memberships, fundraisers and other sources, is used to leverage additional contributions from other sources and individuals. In the early years, Friends funds were the only acquisition monies available to expand the collection. As a consequence, the Friends' members past and present have impacted the direction of KAM's collection in vital and tangible ways.

Nearly every year, the Friends’ Board of Directors cast votes on a purchase presented by the curatorial staff. These acquisitions have resulted in some of the most important and well-known objects in the collection, ranging from ancient Greek and Roman vessels and Renaissance painting to modernist sculpture and significant Michigan artists.

With this on-line exhibition, we demonstrate the vast range of the Friends of Kresge acquisitions, saluting past and present members for their enthusiasm and dedication to the arts. At a time when the value of many university art collections has been under question, this brief review of the Friends’ acquisitions serves to reconfirm the global teaching mission of the museum and university. These additions have been carefully chosen to demonstrate trends of artistic expression, to provide deep and detailed accounts of cultural history, as well as to represent artists of international importance.

Select an era from the timeline above - scroll through the objects in that era by either slecting the arrows on the side of the display or the numbered tabs at the bottom. To view objects from another era, select again from the timeline above.