Two San Diego art museums receive $40 million art collection

Sunday, March 25, 2012 

Two museums in San Diego, California have been bequested an art collection worth more than $40 million. The art collection was donated by Dr. Vance E. Kondon and Elisabeth Giesberger to both the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego and the San Diego Museum of Art.

Kondon, a former board member of the Museum of Contemporary Art, died in 1997 and Giesberger died in 2011. Kondon was a notable art collector in San Diego, and collected for over 30 years. Roxana Velásquez, SDMA executive director, described their bequeathed collection’s “rarity” and said the pieces would add “depth” to the two existing museum collections.

The collection will be separated between the two museums due to the art movements represented within it. The Museum of Contemporary Art will receive 30 contemporary works by artists such as Franz Kline, Christo, and Craig Kauffman. The Museum of Art was bequeathed 48 German Expressionist paintings, drawings and prints. This collection includes artworks by Otto Dix, Gustav Klimt, and Egon Schiele.