CITY TO GET COSTLY COLLECTION OF ART.
Mrs. W. B. Thayer Tells of Intention to Form Museum Nucleus.
Pending the selection of an adequate fireproof storeroom or exhibition room for her valuable art collection, Mrs. W. B. Thayer has announced that it will be given to Kansas City, as a nucleus for an art museum to the contemplated Mary Adkins institute. For the present it will be considered a gift to the Fine Arts Institute, and has been accepted by President Samuel Moore. A meeting will be held by the directors within the next week to select a proper place of storage.
The collection is valued somewhere between $75,000 and $100,000 and includes paintings, textiles, potteries, precious art novelties of all sorts, prints, basketry and bits of sculpture.
"In a recent trip to San Francisco I tried to find some more to add to my collection," said Mrs. Thayer, "but anything on par with mine were absolutely prohibitive in price. There are articles especially, in the textile line in what I have assembled, that cannot be duplicated elsewhere. And such collections are steadily going up in value. All museums are attempting to assemble collections, especially private collections of them. I want mine to stay here in Kansas City."
Mrs. Thayer is planning a display of her fine collection of textiles in her residence, 4600 Warwick boulevard, next week, beginning Tuesday. The hours will be from 3 till 5 o'clock each day for the week, with a small admission fee charge.
Mrs. Thayer has just returned from Guatemala, where she "picked up" the best samples of embroidery and lace in ecclesiastic vestments. One robe, dating from the fifteenth century, was the property of a cardinal of the ancient Italian family, the Sagredo branch, well known in Venetian history. The reverend gentleman, who wore the robe, was cardinal of the Apostolic church in Venice. She also obtained the elaborate christening robe of a Spanish duke. One point lace robe to be shown is worth $2,500, and some Coptic embroideries she bought in Cairo, Egypt, and Constantinople are priceless. her list of quaint old samplers is also interesting.
