The Toledo Museum of Art has a somewhat atypical history, in terms of encyclopedic museums of its ilk. “The museum,” director Adam M. Levine explains, “was founded in 1901 with money and not a collection. The most interesting feature of our acquisitions is that they are almost all funded from the endowment rather than as gifts.” This, Levine feels, enables curators to drive the acquisitions process.
“Because the resources are owned by the museum, there is greater stakeholder alignment. The only question is, does it serve our acquisition strategy? There isn’t really a donor relations component to the calculus. Donors can be hugely advantageous, of course, but it does introduce another variable. We’re able to be a little more focused on our collecting strategy.”
That strategy involves “collecting superlative things from around the world and across time” and will be on full view when the museum completes a large-scale chronological reinstallation in 2027, a process which began last year.
In 2025, the Toledo Museum acquired more than 200 artworks, many of which are already, or will soon be, on view. The acquisitions span centuries, and includes paintings by Richard Diebenkorn and Milton Avery; sculptures by Joan Miró and Chakaia Booker; and prints by Rose B. Simpson and Kara Walker.
Below, Levine talks through some of the key works entering the collection and sheds light on how they will factor into the reinstallation.
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Park Seo-Bo
Image Credit: Courtesy Toledo Museum of Art and Kukje Gallery, Seoul The Toledo Museum of Art has a collecting group called the Georgia Welles Apollo Society, which was founded 40 years ago and is based on a similar initiative at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. This Park Seo-Bo pencil-and-oil on canvas, from the Korean modernist’s “Ecriture” series, was acquired as part of this program.
Each year a different curator is responsible for acquiring work under the auspices of the Georgia Welles Apollo Society. Last year it was Asian art; in 2026, it is Latin American art. “This way, we don’t have curators competing against each other,” Levine explains. “It allows the curator to focus, and it breeds collegiality. And it lets us concentrate our resources on one or two great pieces rather that distributing the funds across various departments.”
The typical budget is half a million to a million dollars annually, and in 2025, Christine Starkman, the museum’s curator of Asian art, ultimately chose Park Seo-Bo’s Ecriture 16-76. “Christine spent time in Korea on a Fulbright, and she speaks fluent Korean. She has a passion for, and is really invested in understanding, Korean art history.” The artwork came from Kukje Gallery, one of the leading galleries in Seoul.
“This piece will be prominently displayed in our reinstallation and will help tell the story about global narratives around modern minimalism. We have an exceptional Agnes Martin in the collection which will pair beautifully with the Park Seo-Bo.”
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Martin Puryear
Image Credit: Courtesy Toledo Museum of Art Georgia Welles, who founded a namesake collecting group at the museum, was one of the greatest collectors in Toledo’s history, according to Levine. When she died in 2023 at age 92, she bequeathed many artworks to the museum, which are being processed in batches. One key piece that formally entered the collection in 2025 is Martin Puryear’s 1973 sculpture Bound Cone.
“This is an incredible early example of his work. It’s powerfully anthropomorphic in person,” Levine observed. He also points out its versatility, in terms of where it might slot into the museum-wide reinstallation. Toledo’s curator of modern and contemporary art, Paige Rozanski, is still mulling its placement.
“It could be placed in a minimalist context, and it can engage in social issues that are very contemporary,” Levine notes. “But it will of course be prominently displayed.”
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Hale Woodruff
Image Credit: Historical Collection of Talladega College, Talladega, Ala. This series of six murals by Hale Woodruff was originally commissioned for Talladega College, a historically Black college in Talladega, Alabama. They depict key moments of Black history, from the Amistad uprising to the Underground Railroad to the college’s founding. The Toledo Museum of Art’s involvement was less of a straightforward acquisition than a partnership between the museum, Art Bridges, the Terra Foundation, and Talladega College, Levine explains.
“These murals are one of the the best example of American muralism; they are truly exceptional. What makes this really special is the way that all the institutions are collaborating on giving visibility to Woodruff’s legacy in a way that is consistent and driven by Talladega College’s interests.”
The Underground Railroad (1942) will eventually be in view in the Great Gallery, one of the most important spaces at the museum, which until recently functioned as a large-scale Baroque painting gallery. When the reinstallation is unveiled in 2027, it will still showcase portraits, landscapes, and history paintings, but will include works from the 20th and 21st centuries, including the Woodruff mural.
Levine teased another new mural, yet to be announced, that will be in dialogue with The Underground Railroad when the Great Gallery reopens.
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Amoako Boafo
Image Credit: Courtesy Toledo Museum of Art Another artwork that will be on view in the newly installed Great Gallery is Amoako Boafo’s 2021 painting White Picnic Blanket. Levine recently visited Boafo in his Accra studio, on a trip organized by Gallery 1957, which has spaces in Accra and London and works with many West African artists. “We have a great relationship with Gallery 1957. They’ve been a terrific partner in helping us understand the contemporary scene in Accra.” (The painting itself was purchased from Gagosian.)
“Boafo’s skill at painting is so beautifully demonstrated in this work,” Levine remarked. “The way your eye picks up the edge of the woman’s dress, even with the white-on-white of the picnic blanket, really demonstrates the level of craft with the application of paint, the impasto. There are so many quiet moments of brilliance.”
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Crusader Icon
Image Credit: Courtesy Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art purchased this rare 13th century panel from the art dealer Sam Fogg at the TEFAF art fair in Maastrict. Before that, it had been on loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for 30 years, and then on loan at the Louvre, according to Levine.
“This is a great example of why we are reinstalling the museum chronologically. The object speaks to the complicated history of the Mediterranean coast that is still very much in the news today. We’re hoping that this work might provide context for other works you’ll see on view, from the 20th and 21st centuries, that also address notions of conflict.”
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Etel Adnan
Image Credit: Courtesy Toledo Museum of Art Like many museums, the Toledo Museum of Art prefers to see artworks they are considering acquiring in person before finalizing a sale. “Unless it’s a high-pressure art fair situation, we bring things to the museum on purchase consideration.”
This rule can be tricky to follow, however, when dealing with individuals (rather than art dealers and galleries), as was the case with this early Etel Adnan painting, which was purchased from a collector in Lebanon who knew the artist.
“It was complicated to convince him to ship it to us without a guarantee that we’d buy it,” Levine explained. But we had a long dialogue about how the painting would be interpreted. The collector believed that we cared a lot about this work and that we’d show it in an appropriate context.”
