Minnesota’s Walker Arts Center has bought a large cache of Rauschenberg, Warhol, Johns, Frank Stella and Roy Lichtenstein work that had been owned by Merce Cunningham because the works had been commissioned for performances and sets. The Minneapolis Star Tribune takes special pride in the purchase:

“No other artist has been with the Walker from the earliest days through today, and no other has had as profound an effect on our concept of what dance can be,” said Philip Bither, the museum’s curator of performing arts.

Walker officials declined to say what they paid for the hoard, which includes at least 150 major objects and perhaps thousands of smaller items. […]

“You can say that [the price] was a significant contribution to their $8 million goal,” said Walker chief curator Darsie Alexander, referring to the foundation’s Legacy Plan, which would preserve and disseminate Cunningham’s innovative ideas through education, documentation and a final two-year tour by dancers he trained. The company will disband after its final performance Dec. 31, and the approximately 40 dancers, musicians and administrators will receive severance pay from the fund.

A New York Treasure Lands in Minneapolis (Star-Tribune)