Colorado Springs Debutante Ball Committee Acquisitions

For half a century, the Colorado Springs Debutante Ball has been committed to the recognition of young women and their families, providing them with a year of meaningful experiences and culminating with an event befitting the grandeur of this tradition. Since the first Ball, held in December of 1967, the Debutante Ball Committee has generously contributed the annual proceeds to the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center’s museum acquisitions fund. With cumulative donations totaling nearly $600,000 to date, it has been made possible for the Fine Arts Center to make some of its most significant purchases for the permanent collection.

With selections as diverse as remarkable signature works like Marisol’s John Wayne and John Singer Sargent’s Portrait of Miss Elsie Palmer and beautiful examples of southwest bultos and beadwork, these artworks contribute to the international prominence of our institution and are consistently among the most requested by other museums.

These extraordinary gifts not only benefit the Fine Arts Center, but also our community and all of its visitors. Spanning the three cultural focuses of the collection – Native American, Latin American, and Anglo American – we have been given the opportunity to provide depth and breadth to our holdings. The artists and artworks represented here encompass our institutional history, from historic regional photographers such as Laura Gilpin and Myron Wood to contemporary artists like Heather Oelklaus, Mikel Glass, and Monica Aiello, all recently featured in solo exhibitions at the Fine Arts Center.

Experience nearly every purchase made possible by the Debutante Ball Acquisitions Fund; beginning with the first, John Sloan’s Eagles of Tesuque in 1968, and ending with 2016’s recent acquisition, Cindy Sherman’s Madame Pompadour Tea Service. We are pleased to announce that a second purchase has been made this year and will be unveiled in December, a signature work commemorating this significant anniversary.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.