Art collectors Kim Richter Sherley and John Shurley. Courtesy Kim Richter Sherley and John Shirley
Former President, COO and Microsoft (MSFT) director, 84 -year -old John Sherley discovered Alexander Calder, when he was a student at a Hill Prepatory School outside Philadelphia. He took a three -year -old humanities class, in which literature, poetry, drama, architecture and visual art were covered, and it was during the journey of Philadelphia Museum of Art that he first faced the work of the Calder outside the books.
“I came out of the classroom with a great love for two things. One was Jazz music and the other was the work of modern sculpture and especially the Calder,” Sherly told Observer. “Instead of sculpture in some solids, the idea of sculpture in space was a revelation. For me, balance, air and minor motion were all very attractive.”
It was, he said, it is difficult to believe that a man with only two or three simple hand tools can make such amazing artwork so easily. Nevertheless, that brief encounter with Calder awakened a lifetime praise for excellent art in Shirley – one will share with both his late wife Mary and his second love, Kim Richter Sherley.
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John Sherley will eventually appoint architect George Suyama to design a 23,000-square-foot house to organize his growing collection-in the US, in the US, worked in the US by Joan Michelle, Mark Rothko, Gurhard Richter, Class Oldenberg, Magdelena Ebalviz, Jesuz Morino, Marino Morino and many people. In the creation of his collection, he collaborated with Art World Luminaries, which was nurtured with artists such as Arne Glimcher, Robert Manuchin, Jinney Right and Robert Star and Chak Close, Dell Chihul and Italo Skanga.
Earlier, however, he graduated from MIT, going to work for radio shake and then Tandi Corporation, where he stayed for two decades, eventually became the vice president of computer merchandising. At the beginning of his career, he met Mary, who went to Belgium with him, when he was tasked to open the Tandi International Electronics Store in Europe. He stayed for five years, during which he traveled to Europe, who traveled in museums: Van Gogh Museum, Craler-Mular Museum and others between others.
Alexander Calder with ‘Gama’ (1947) and ‘Sword Plant’ (1947). © Calder Foundation, New York / DACS London
This was a period, he said in an interview with the Smithsonian Archives of American art, during which he was able to take a lot of art. Back to the states, Mary discovered the world of glass art and acquired a Chihul sculpture that is now in the Seattle Art Museum. John Sherley bought his first Calder Peace in 1988 – bought a whisper in mobile squareish (1970), pace – and he went to build an extraordinary collection of modern and contemporary art with a foundation, which supported non -profit art, educational and human service organizations.
Mary passed in 2013; John, by then a major art philanthropist married Kim, who shared his passion for art in 2016. Although his background has disappeared against the background of John Sherly’s history with Microsoft (see: “And Wife” Trop), Kim Richter Sherly is an art protector in itself. She is also, a committed collector and serves as a trustee of the Seattle Art Museum (with John) and Tate America Foundation. He is also a member of the National Gallery of Art Collectors Committee, Tate North American Acquisition Committee and University of Washington Henry Art Gallery Advisory Council.
Together, she and John made headlines at the end of the previous year, when they donated their collection of their Killeder Works, with the artist’s career (including fish, gamma and boganville) to the Seattle Art Museum to the Seattle Art Museum, $ 10 million and promised strong annual funding.
Slatal connection of Sherley
It is no surprise that Kim and John Shirley chose the Seattle Art Museum while donating their prized Calder Collection, priced at $ 200 million. Both have deep roots in the kingdom – John has called Seattle home for many years and Kim grew up there. “My grandparents came here from Dadi Norway, and my mother was going to the original Seattle Arts Museum with her brothers,” she said.
His shared desire to increase the national profile of the museum was inspired in the gift part. Kim said, “We are trying to help the Seattle Art Museum reach the second level and this is a very good institution that it can happen.” The couple planned to give the annual institution between $ 250,000 and $ 500,000, and have a clear vision of programs and initiatives that will support their collection will, settlement and annual gifts.
Installation view of ‘Calder: In Motion, The Shore Family Collection’ at the Seattle Art Museum. © 2024 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, Photo: Alborz Kamalizad.
To preserve the impact and inheritance of the functions of the Calder, a part of the money will be dedicated to programs related to future performance, events, research and work of Calder.
“Each year, we will have programming that will include other artists who are influenced by the Calder or who have studied in the Attellier Calder,” John Shirley explained. “This will create a constant appearance of something that is related to these tasks, will continue to make our work accessible to as many people as we can.”
Funds will support art education for K -12 students in Seattle Public Schools, admission in museums and transport costs for children of schools who may not be able to bring students to the museum. Supporting art education is especially important for Shirlal. As Kim Richter Shirley said, her husband was able to attend a very early school, which introduced him to the work of the calcard due to the scholarship received as the son of a military man.
He said, “He never had such an opportunity because his father was a naval officer and could not provide that education for him”, he said. “Therefore we understand how important art education is. Education in art and humanities changed his life.”
,Calder: In speed, Sherly Family CollectionThe Seattle Art is seen in the Museum through August 4.
