The Reclamation Fine Art Collection.
DENVER – The Bureau of Reclamation is launching its digital Reclamation Fine Art Collection that contains more than 300 pieces of fine art from some of America’s top artists including Richard Diebenkorn, Lamar Dodd, Michael Frary, Roland Petersen and Norman Rockwell.
The fine art program commissioned more than 40 artists in the late 1960’s to highlight Reclamation’s story of bringing water to the West through a visual representation ranging from realism to abstract expressionist art.
Reclamation’s Mission Support Organization revitalized the collection. The art pieces were transported to Denver so they could be reframed, professionally digitized, and conserved. Through this digitization Reclamation is making these art pieces easily accessible to the public to view, research, reflect and enjoy.
In the early 1970’s, the exhibit was displayed at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Following that, the Smithsonian Institution sponsored a traveling exhibition of a selection of the collection to seven museums where the public could easily view it. The collection was then shared with various Reclamation offices and storage sites. The artwork was not always available for the public to view.
