JOHN AND MARY PAPPAJOHN MAKE RECORD GIFT OF ART
Des Moines, Iowa - John and Mary Pappajohn, longtime members of Leadership 100, made a $30 million gift of art this month for a16-sculpture ‘first-rate' garden at a downtown park in Des Moines, Iowa, their cherished hometown.
The donation, for “Western Gateway Park”, is believed to be the largest single public gift in Des Moines' history.
"We love (the sculptures) but we're both getting old and we're both moving along, so we thought it was appropriate for that space," John Pappajohn, 78, said in an interview with the Des Moines Sunday Register.
The initial gift of 16 sculptures is likely to catapult Des Moines to the world art stage, said Des Moines businessman Jim Cownie, who has agreed to raise money to pay for installation, maintenance and security costs.
"There aren't too many sculpture gardens in America that will compare with what we'll have in Des Moines," Cownie said.
"The conclusion is inescapable. This is going to be a great draw for our community and a first-rate cluster of art we all can be proud of."
The Pappajohns' sculpture donations include:
- A bronze rabbit called "Thinker on a Rock" by artist Barry Flanagan that spoofs Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker."
- A giant spider by Louise Bourgeois. A similar work by the artist recently sold for $4 million.
- A 38,000-pound sculpture by Mark Di Suvero, whose works are composed primarily of industrial I-beams and heavy-gauge metal.
- An untitled bronze sculpture by Joel Shapiro, the artist who created the tangled frenchfry-looking sculpture that stands on the west side of City Hall on the Principal Riverwalk. Shapiro's work is on display in such places as the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The Pappajohns have selected 16 of their sculptures, almost their entire outdoor collection, to donate. Several other donations are likely, the Pappajohns said.
"We love looking at our art," Mary Pappajohn said. "I think, one day, we decided this is kind of a selfish thing for just both of us to enjoy it." The sculptures, which will be owned by the Des Moines Art Center, will begin to be placed in the park this spring. The Gateway Park is a $30.5 million city project that was completed in 2006.
Both Pappajohns or their representatives and officials from the Des Moines Art Center and city will have equal say on whether to accept future donations. "It is world-class art, and I don't want secondary art there," John Pappajohn said.
The Pappajohn donation will probably bring Iowa renown as having one of the best public sculpture gardens in the world, art critics and city leaders say. John Pappajohn is a highly regarded venture capitalist who has invested in new and growing businesses. John and Mary began collecting art soon after they were married in 1961. They paid $100 for their first painting, which they still own. Today they own more than 400 pieces of art and are well-known in the art world. Mary Pappajohn is on a committee that acquires pieces at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. John Pappajohn is on the Collectors Committee for the National Gallery of Art.
The Pappajohns have been noted for their philanthropy in Iowa, having given an estimated $50 million to various educational, entrepreneurial, health care and art enterprises, including the Pappajohn Businesses Administration Building, the John and Mary Pappajohn Clinical Cancer Center and the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center, all at the University of Iowa, where John graduated in 1952, as well as Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers at Iowa State University, Drake University and North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City, where John grew up. The couple also established The Pappajohn Higher Education center in Des Moines.
