INDIANA Gund family donates Western art to museum

The Indiana museum will unveil the Gund Gallery in June 2005.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- The Gund family of Cleveland has donated a $15 million collection of Western art, including the Frederick Remington bronze "Bronco Buster" sculpture, to the Eiteljorg Museum for permanent display.
The collection of 57 bronzes, oil paintings, watercolors, sketches and lithographs is the largest gift of artwork to the museum since 1989, when it opened with founder Harrison Eiteljorg's collection of American Indian and Western art, museum president John Vanausdall said.
In recognition of the family's contribution, the Eiteljorg will unveil the Gund Gallery of Western Art when it opens its newly expanded building in June 2005.
George Gund, a Cleveland banker and real-estate investor, began collecting Western art in 1929. After he died, his family assembled an exhibit that traveled the country. It has been stored in Eiteljorg's climate-controlled vault since 1989 and displayed on a rotating basis in recent years.
Statement
"The passionate dedication of its volunteers and of its professional staff, along with its uniquely dedicated facilities, were key to our decision," said Gordon Gund, owner of the National Basketball Association's Cleveland Cavaliers and one of George Gund's six children.
The family wanted the collection to be somewhere where people from around the country could see it, Gordon Gund said.
"We thought it was important that these works be combined with other artistic portrayals of the American West in a way that would allow them to be part of a more complete picture of the history of this time in our country, as seen through many different artists' eyes and hands," he said.