Sample Listings: General Mills, Inc. and
the Generali Foundation
The following are sample listings of two corporate collections
as they appear in the International
Directory of Corporate Art Collections
GENERAL MILLS, INC
9200 Wayzata Blvd, Minneapolis, MN 55426; PO Box 1113, Minneapolis,
MN 55440.
612-764-7269 ( Info: (763) 764-7629)
Fax[ 612-764-7269
Website address[ http://www.genmills.com
Personnel[ Curator, Donald B. McNeil.
Governing[ Corporation.
Business[ Manufacturer of food products; retail
trade; restaurants.
Year[ 1958.
Size[ Approximately 1,500 works.
Description[The collection is contemporary art with
a balance between regional and national, traditional and avant-garde; media include paintings, original prints, sculptures,
tapestries and multi-media works. The majority of the works are by living artists. The collection is regularly rotated throughout
the headquarters to provide maximum exposure. Some of the artists represented include Jim Dine, David Hockney, Jasper Johns,
Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Mapplethorpe.
The company has recently acquired additional works during 2001 and 2002 in
preparation for the opening in September 2003 of two new buildings at its headquarters in Minneapolis, to accommodate Pillsbury
Co., which was acquired in 2001. In one of the new buildings, a glass atrium, designed by New York artist James Carpenter,
has a series of treated glass fins inside and out to capture, color and bounce light down into the indoor space.
A special feature of the collection is a group of sculptures located on the
company grounds, courtyards and terraces. Outdoor sculpture became a natural extension of the company's existing artistic
commitment in the mid-'80s with the redesign of General Mills' 85-acre campus. There were 16 pieces available for public viewing
before construction (still ongoing) closed off about half the collection, but several major pieces are visible and open for
close inspection to anyone circling the company's main drive. One such piece is Jackie Ferarra's "Stone Court," a limestone
wall built into a sculpted hillside. The dominant piece in the collection is Jonathan Borofsky's "Man With Briefcase," a 30-foot-tall
slab of steel only two inches thick, with a workaday man stamped out of the center. The grounds house work from other nationally
and internationally prominent artists ≈ Richard Serra, Mel Kendrick, Richard Artschwager.
Location[ Throughout the headquarters building in
Minneapolis and on the grounds. The outdoor sculptures can be seen at: U.S. 169 and Interstate 394 at General Mills Boulevard.
Approximately 70% of the collection is located in office and general work areas; the remainder are in hallways, reception
areas and lounges.
Viewing[ The collection inside of the headquarters
may be viewed by appointment only. The grounds are open to the public.
Status[ Ongoing
Source[ Artists, art dealers.
Selection[ In-house corporate staff person.
Review[ Will accept unsolicited material (slides,
catalogues, etc); write or call before attempting to visit.
Loans[ Will loan to approved museums, colleges and
universities, and galleries.
Exhibitions[ "The Extended Landscape: Works from
the General Mills Collection," College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, 1990.
"Selections from the General Mills Art Collection," Tampa Museum
of Art, Tampa, FL, 1988.
"Prints and Drawings: Works on Paper from the General Mills
Art Collection," C. M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT, 1985.
"Unique Works on Paper: Selections from the General Mills Art
Collection," Triton College, River Grove, IL; Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, 1982.
"Prints from the General Mills Collection," Carleton College,
Northfield, MN; Mankato State University, Mankato, MN; St. Mary's College, Winona, MN; Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City,
IA; Cedar Rapids Art Center, Cedar Rapids, IA; Krannert Graduate School of Management, Purdue University, 1979-1981.
"General Mills Art Collection," Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando,
FL, 1981.
"Business Buys American Art," organized by the Whitney Museum
of American Art, 1960.
Programs[ Employee educational programs (lectures,
special exhibitions, tours of local institutions, employee art club.
Bibliography[ "General Mills retains corporate 'culture',"
by Karren Mills, Associated Press, Aug. 05, 2003.
"Public art abounds in the cities and suburbs," by Matt Peiken, Pioneer Press,
June 8, 2003.
"America's Best Corporate Art Collections," Patrick Pacheco, Art & Antiques,
January 1996, pp 32-41.
"General Mills a Deserved Salute for Arts Leadership," Minneapolis
Star Tribune, December 26, 1995, p 22A.
Art for Work, Marjory Jacobson, Harvard Business
School Press, Boston, 1993, pp. 134-139.
"Art and Public Space," SD, November 1992, pp. 84-87.
"The Corporate Ladder: General Mills Sculpts a Garden of Art,"
Architecture Minnesota, September/October 1991, pp. 44-47.
"General Mills' Program Encourages Creativity," Corporate
ARTnews, January 1990, p. 1.
"Corporate Pleasures," Art in America, December 1988,
pp. 38-41.
"Art Works: Corporate Collections Put Art to Work," Hermes,
Fall 1988, pp. 16-24.
"General Mills' Sculpture Garden," Arts: The Magazine for
Members of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, January 1988, pp. 26-27.
"State-of-the-Art Collections," Minneapolis St.Paul,
April 1987, pp. 62-67.
"General Mills - A Major Collector in the Midwest," Corporate
ARTnews, March/April 1985, pp. 6-7.
"Art for Architecture's Sake," Architecture Minnesota,
January-February 1984, pp. 22-25.
"Keepers of Corporate Art," Fortune Magazine, March 21,
1983, pp. 120-121.
"The Corporate Curator," Minnesota Monthly, August 1982,
pp. 11-13.
"Confessions of the Corporate Art Hunters," ARTnews,
Summer 1982, pp. 108-112.
"The Business of Selling Art to Business," Decor, May
1982, pp. 71-82. General Mills Art Collection, introduction by Donald B. McNeil, Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, FL, 1981.
Business Buys American Art, foreword by David
A. Praeger and David M. Solinger, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1960.
GENERALI FOUNDATION
(Generali Group Austria)
Wiedner Hauptstrasse 15, 1040 Vienna, AUSTRIA.
00431-504-9880
Website address[ http://www.gfound.or.at English version: http://foundation.generali.at/index_e.htm
Personnel[ Artistic
and Managing Director, Sabine Breitwieser. (email address: foundation@generali.at) ; Collection, Reference Room Manager, Doris
Leutgeb (email address: found.studienraum@generali.at ).
Governing[ Foundation. The Generali Foundation was founded in 1988 as a non-profit association of the Generali Group Austria
in order to foster contemporary visual arts. The members are three corporations within the insurance group, the Generali Holding
Vienna AG, Generali Versicherung AG, and Generali Ruckversicherung AG. Business[ Insurance.
Year[ 1980s, new Foundation building completed in 1995.
Size[ Approximately 600 art objects.
Description[ In 1995, the foundation opened a building in the center of Vienna, next to the Secession and Museums Quarter.
The core objective of the Generali Foundation is to set up an international collection focusing on contemporary sculpture
as well as its research and documentation. The works in the collection date back to the late fifties/early sixties. The historical
positions they represent are juxtaposed with current ones of the nineties. The collection does not target a complete overview
but rather emphasises certain artistic positions or issues. These include conceptual and performative aspects, the crossovers
of architecture and design as well as approaches that critically explore the role of the media and social parameters. The
term sculpture is not restricted to object art, the plastic arts, or to the use of specified media, but is broadly defined
to embrace photography, film, video, and installation, as additional keynotes of the collection. The Foundation also collects
books and other ephemera, rare publications, and archive material that relate to the collection. Preservation and, if necessary,
restoration of important historical bodies of works are among the Generali Foundation’s achievements.
The collection that has been evolving since the end of 1988 has a historical background. Originally a collection of contemporary
Austrian sculpture was planned. It was supposed to provide a coherent overview and to take into account important references
to the post-war period (Wotruba, Hoflehner, Urteil). At the end of the eighties object art experienced an upswing in Austria
as well due to the general art boom. As a sort of side activity, the walls of the new main building of the Generali Austria
Group in downtown Vienna were also decorated at this time with works on paper by younger Austrian artists which had been purchased
by the Foundation.
Location[ In the Generali Foundation in Vienna.
Viewing[ The collection is not on permanent display. The collection is made accessible to public viewing at regular intervals
through the Foundation’s own exhibitions. The collection is also presented through loans to other institutions, which
have included the last Documenta in Kassel/Germany, and the Whitney Museum of American art in New York. Status[ Ongoing. Source[
Artists, dealers, galleries Review Policy[ inquire
Loans[ Inquire, works have been loaned to museums and non-profit institutions. Exhibitions[ The art center of the foundation
provides major exhibitions, studies, and workshop and storage facilities. The Foundation produces three exhibitions a year,
which are complemented by events such as exhibition talks, lectures, panel discussions, performances and film presentations.
"Collection," Works by Dan Graham, Sanja Ivekovic, Hans Haacke, Friedl Kubelka and Harun Farocki, September 5 through
December 21 2003.
Activities[ An important aspect of the collection consists of the archives, open to the public in the Reference Room of
the Foundation. The library includes audio-visual media and text and pictorial archives.
Publications[ The Gernerali Foundation has produced an impressive number of publications for special exhibitions. A complete
list of these is available on the Foundation's website.
Dinge, die wir nicht verstehen/ Things we don't understand,
Edited by Roger M. Buergel and Ruth Noack, published by Sabine Breitwieser for the Generali Foundation, Vienna. Catalogue
of a recent exhibition at the Generali Foundation, January 28 - April 16, 2000. Softcover, german/english, approx. 140 pages,
approx. 32 black and white illustrations, ISBN 3-901107-26-6, ATS 250 ( 18) Book trade, Verlag der Kunst, Dresden, ISBN 90-5705-156-7
Occupying
Space. Generali Foundation Collection. German./Engl., 660 pages, ca. 680 color- and 420 b&w illustrations. The first
comprehensive catalogue of the Generali Foundation Collection with numerous illustrations and texts by the artists, published 2003.
