Denver Art Museum has announced a $25 million endowment gift from an anonymous donor to establish an Institute of Textile Art and Fashion.

The gift includes $15 million for an endowment to fund ongoing programming and scholarship in the museum's Textile Art and Fashion department, including the restoration and care of items in the collection, as well as exhibitions and programming such as learning and engagement programs, lecture series, and symposia. The remaining $10 million will endow a fund for new acquisitions to the department's collection, which currently includes more than five thousand objects from Asia, Europe, and North and South America, ranging from archaeological textiles to contemporary works of art in fiber, as well as fashion from the eighteenth century to today. Florence Müller, the museum's Avenir Curator of Textile Art and Fashion, will lead the new institute.

"The museum is deeply grateful for this significant and powerful endowment gift," said Christoph Heinrich, the Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the museum. "The goals of the new Institute are to support the development and sharing of the museum's Textile Art and Fashion collection and create a basis for scholarly research and exchange in ways that are engaging and valuable for our community. Textiles have been wonderful ambassadors and connectors between diverse cultures for thousands of years. They were used to communicate ideas and stories, share religious beliefs as well as notions of style and taste. Then, as now, they are among the most beautiful documents of human creativity."

(Photo credit: Denver Art Museum)