Honoring Richard Armstrong, Estate makes major gift to Guggenheim

Photo: Jason Andrew

On the occasion of Richard Armstrong’s retirement this week from The Solomon R. Guggenheim, the Estate of Jack Tworkov is pleased to announce the gift of a major painting by the artist in his honor. Richard has served as director of the Museum and Foundation since 2008. This marks the fourth painting by Tworkov to enter the museum’s permanent collection.

Over the past four decades, the work of Jack Tworkov has featured prominently in Richard Armstrong's career. As the adjunct curator at The Whitney Museum of American Art, Richard curated Tworkov's first major post-humous exhibition Jack Tworkov: Paintings 1928-1982 at Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts in 1987. His salient essay accompanying the exhibition, Jack Tworkov’s Faith in Painting, remains a crucial testimony to Tworkov’s significant role in Post-War American art.

In 2007, under his guidance as the Director of The Carnegie Museum of Art, the museum purchased Tworkov’s signature painting Idling I (SP-69 #6), 1969—the first to enter the collection.

In 2009, on the occasion of the publication of Tworkov’s writings Extreme of the Middle by Yale University Press, Richard provided an insightful book blurb alongside that of Mark Stevens’ writing, “In the course of his long life as a painter, Jack Tworkov became an important figure in the maturation of abstract art in America.” He was also instrumental in arranging to host the official book launch event in the Peter B. Lewis Theater at the Guggenheim.

"It is a great pleasure to honor Richard with the gift of this painting to the Guggenheim's permanent collection,” offers Jason Andrew, Director of the Estate of Jack Tworkov since 2002, “This gift not only acknowledges Richard’s contributions to the Tworkov legacy, but also acknowledges his work on behalf of the legacy of all artists."

“The Exes (Q3-80 #3),” 1980, oil on canvas, 57 x 84 1/2 in (144.8 x 214.6 cm) Collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Gift of the Estate of Jack Tworkov (2023)