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SATURDAY EVENING POST
November 16th, 2024
A drive to Western Washington University (WWU) in Bellingham offers an exceptional opportunity to experience monumental international sculpture just across the border. The WWU outdoor sculpture collection, developed with support from Virginia Wright’s visionary public art fund, has grown into one of the top university sculpture collections in the United States.
Donald Judd, Untitled, 1982, Corten steel, Gift from the Virginia Wright Fund. © 2020 Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Virginia Wright (1929–2020) was a pivotal figure in the art world, particularly in Washington State, where her impact as a collector, philanthropist, gallerist, and arts advocate is unparalleled. Known as "Jinny" among friends and family, she was born in Seattle to Prentice Bloedel and Virginia Merrill Bloedel, a family deeply rooted in the Northwest timber industry. This background enabled her to develop a lifelong passion for art and community. Wright's influence on Seattle's cultural landscape and her dedication to contemporary art helped shape the city’s artistic and cultural identity, placing it on the map as a prominent arts destination.
Isamu Noguchi, Skyviewing Sculpture, 1969, Painted iron plate. Art allowance from Miller Hall construction funds. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum.
One of Wright’s earliest public art projects was the outdoor sculpture collection at Western Washington University (WWU) in Bellingham, which began in the late 1960s through the Virginia Wright Fund. WWU’s campus was a prime location for public art due to its picturesque natural surroundings and reputation as a center for artistic expression, and Wright chose it specifically for these qualities. The collection began with pieces like Skyviewing Sculpture (1969) by Isamu Noguchi, marking the university as a key site for modern art. Over the years, the collection grew to include sculptures by prominent artists such as Mark di Suvero, Richard Serra, and Donald Judd, making it one of the nation’s top ten university sculpture collections. In the early 2000s, Wright and her fund assisted WWU in securing a $100,000 endowment from the Kreielsheimer Foundation to maintain and care for the sculptures, ensuring the collection’s preservation and continued expansion. Today, WWU’s sculpture collection stands as a testament to Wright’s dedication to public art and her vision of accessible, high-quality art in educational settings.
Virginia Wright and C. Bagley Wright posing in front of the painting Cross Section by Franz Kline, ca. 1964. Photograph by Don Normark, courtesy The Portland Museum Archives.
Virginia Wright beside Kenneth Noland painting, April 24, 1966. Courtesy Tacoma News Tribune.
Wright's formative years were marked by a unique blend of exposure to nature and art. She spent part of her childhood in Vancouver, where her father oversaw the family's Canadian timber holdings, and attended The Masters School, a boarding school near New York City. This setting provided her first substantial exposure to art history through studio classes and museum excursions. Following high school, she returned briefly to Vancouver, attending the University of British Columbia, before moving to Barnard College in New York. There, she studied under notable art historian Meyer Schapiro, whose teachings ignited her enthusiasm for modern art and laid the foundation for her future in the art world.
Virginia Wright, Seattle Art Museum exhibit at Seattle Center, August 10, 1967.
Courtesy University of Washington Special Collections (MPH2355).
Wright's life and career spanned multiple facets of the art community. She began by working at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York, where she was introduced to the Abstract Expressionists—artists like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko, whose work she would later collect. Upon marrying journalist and Seattle native Bagley Wright in 1953, the couple returned to Seattle, where they would significantly impact the cultural landscape. Together, they built an impressive collection of modern and contemporary art, with Virginia leading the acquisitions, and frequently made trips to New York to expand their collection with works by artists like Franz Kline, Arshile Gorky, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rauschenberg.
Virginia’s commitment to art extended beyond personal collecting. In 1960, she joined the board of the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and soon began advocating for a contemporary art collection within the institution. She was instrumental in founding SAM’s Contemporary Arts Council (CAC) in 1964, which organized exhibitions and raised funds for contemporary acquisitions. This council’s success and her advocacy led to several landmark exhibitions, including The Responsive Eye in 1965, which brought Op Art to the Northwest, and 557,087 in 1969, one of the country’s first post-minimal and conceptual art exhibitions.
Virginia Wright and C. Bagley Wright, ca. 1984. Courtesy Seattle Art Museum SAMBlog.
Wright’s dedication to public art culminated in the establishment of the Virginia Wright Fund on October 20, 1969. Seeded with a $1 million gift from her father, Prentice Bloedel, the Fund was designed to finance public art for museums, universities, and civic spaces across Washington State. Over the years, it would support more than 270 works, including prominent sculptures like Barnett Newman’s Broken Obelisk at the University of Washington, Alexander Liberman’s Olympic Iliad for Seattle Center, and works by Mark di Suvero, Richard Serra, and Nancy Holt. Wright’s fund helped shape the public art landscape, elevating Washington's reputation for contemporary sculpture and civic art.
Mark di Suvero, For Handel, 1975, Painted steel. Gift from the Virginia Wright Fund, 1974; installation cost from Performing Arts Center construction funds.
Richard Serra, Wright’s Triangle, 1979-80, Corten steel. Art Allowance from Arntzen Hall and Environmental Studies Center, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Virginia Wright Fund.
Nancy Holt, Stone Enclosure: Rock Rings, 1988-78, Brown mountain stone. © Holt/Smithson Foundation / VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
In 1975, Wright established the Washington Art Consortium (WAC), a cooperative initiative that brought together several Washington State institutions to share resources and promote contemporary art. The founding institutions included Western Gallery at Western Washington University, the Museum of Art at Washington State University, and Tacoma Art Museum, later joined by Seattle’s Henry Art Gallery and the Seattle Art Museum. WAC's purpose was to provide access to high-caliber contemporary art and promote a greater appreciation for 20th-century American art. The consortium eventually grew to include over 400 works and a $2.3 million endowment. WAC’s rotating exhibitions enriched the state’s artistic offerings and, until its disbandment in 2017, provided invaluable cultural and educational resources.
Of course, Virginia Wright’s legacy is most visible in Seattle, particularly through her decades-long relationship with SAM. She and Bagley contributed over 200 works to the museum, ranging from pieces by Abstract Expressionists to contemporary artists like Jeff Koons and Cindy Sherman. Wright was integral to SAM’s expansion, helping fund the downtown museum in 1991 and supporting the museum’s endowment. Her philanthropy extended beyond SAM; she advocated for numerous arts institutions in Seattle, such as the Seattle Symphony’s Benaroya Hall and the Seattle Opera, making her a central figure in Seattle’s cultural life.
Donald Judd, Untitled, 1982, Corten steel, Gift from the Virginia Wright Fund. © 2020 Judd Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Robert Maki, Curve/Diagonal, 1969-70, Painted corten steel. Gift from the Virginia Wright Fund, 1980; installed 1981.
Steve Tibbetts, Scepter, 1966, Gift of WWU Associated Students.
Beverly Pepper, Normanno Wedge, 1980; Normanno Column, 1979-1980, Cast iron. Normanno Wedge: Western Washington University in partnership with one-half of one percent for art law, Art in Public Places Program, Washington State Arts Commission. / Normanno Column: Gift of Virginia and Bagley Wright, 2005, in honor of Karen W. Morse, President, and Sarah Clark-Langager, Curator. Installation funded by Virginia and Bagley Wright and President Karen W. Morse's designation from the Amendt Presidential Endowment.
Bruce Nauman, Stadium Piece, 1998-99, Concrete, tinted white. Gift of the Virginia Wright Fund. © Bruce Nauman/Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York.
James FitzGerald, Rain Forest, 1959, Bronze fountain. Art allowance from Haggard Hall constructions funds. 2004 Student Art Allocation for Wade King Student Recreation Center and the Ted E. Gary Family.
John Keppelman, Garapata, 1978, Painted aluminum plate. Gift of Annie Dillard and Gary Clevidence, 1985.
Lloyd Harmon, Log Ramps, 1974, Douglas fir and Western red cedar. Combined funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, Bureau for Faculty Research, Department of Art and art allowance from Environmental Studies Center Construction funds. Funding for 1983 reconstruction: Parks Hall construction funds, gifts from Georgia Pacific Corporation and Builder's Concrete. Funding for 1995 reconstruction: WWU Physical Plant.
Anthony Caro, India, 1976, Steel, rusted and varnished. Gift from the Virginia Wright Fund, 1977.
Do Ho Suh, Cause & Effect, 2012, Aluminium and acrylic. WWU in partnership with one-half percent for art law, Art in Public Places Program, Washington State Arts Commission. © Do Ho Suh.
In her later years, Wright continued to donate artworks from her collection to SAM and other institutions across Washington. When she passed away in 2020, Wright was remembered as a transformative force in the art world—a collector, philanthropist, and visionary who championed art for public enjoyment. Her contributions resonate across Seattle and the entire Pacific Northwest, with her collections, the Virginia Wright Fund, and her work with institutions like WWU and WAC creating a legacy that continues to inspire.
