Collection News at the Grinnell College Museum of Art

Eighty-seven works from the estate of Hans and Barbara Welch Breder were recently gifted to the permanent collection of Grinnell College Museum of Art. The substantial gift includes paintings, photographs, and sculptures by the German-born artist Hans Breder (1935 – 2017). The gift also includes photographic portraits of Breder and works from his personal art collection. 

Hans Breder came to the United States in 1964. Initially, he served as an assistant to the kinetic sculptor George Rickey in New York. Breder’s earliest sculptures—polished metal forms or plastic cubes placed over mirrors that mingled virtual and real images—were featured in a solo show in 1967 in Manhattan, organized by gallerist Richard Feigen. According to Breder, the artist Marcel Duchamp attended the opening, shook Breder’s hand, and told him he liked his work. 

Ulfert Wilke, who was then director of the University of Iowa Museum of Art, recommended Breder for a faculty position at UI and Breder began teaching an experimental drawing course there in 1966. He soon asked permission to create an intermedia program that would embrace video and performance art. As Breder told Artforum magazine in 2012, “My program conceived of intermedia not as an interdisciplinary fusing of different fields into one, but as a constant collision of concepts and disciplines.” The Intermedia and Video Program was one of the first of its kind in the nation and one of the most influential programs of its time. 

In addition to being one of the most influential teachers of his generation, Hans Breder was also a prolific artist. His signature series Body/Sculptures used performers and mirrors to create living, abstract sculptures that existed momentarily, but were documented by photography. The use of mirrors to mingle virtual and real images is reminiscent of Breder’s earlier sculptures.   

With increased interest from Grinnell students and classes in performance as part of interdisciplinary practices, the Breder material joins a growing number of primary resource material in the art collection about performance or by artists working in performance art available to fulfill this area of study. According to GCMoA Collections Manager Jocelyn Krueger, “The Breder material at the GCMoA covers much of the artist’s career, from his training as an art student to early sculpture to the Body/Sculpture photography and Liminal Icon painting, giving our students an opportunity to see how Breder’s work developed over time.” 

Information for visitors  

Grinnell College Museum of Art, Bucksbaum Center for the Arts, 1108 Park St., Grinnell. Information about the exhibition and programming available at: grinnell.edu/museum or call 641-269-4660.  

The museum is open to the public and always free. Visitors may use the west (Park Street facing) or north (campus facing) doors to the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts. Minors under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult.   

Grinnell College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. Information about parking and accessibility is available on the college's website: grinnell.edu. Accommodation requests may be made to Conference Operations at 641-269-3235 or calendar@grinnell.edu.