The Barry Art Museum at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, has announced the donation of 165 works of 20th-century and contemporary glass sculpture from the Leah and Richard Waitzer Foundation.

The Waitzer Glass Collection, acquired over decades by local philanthropists Leah and Richard Waitzer—who died in 2021 and 2019, respectively—includes works by Louis Comfort Tiffany, Frederick Carder, Émile Gallé, and Nancy Daum Frères, as well as 12 works by Harvey Littleton, considered the founder of the American studio glass movement. The collection includes masterworks from several European artists, as well as works by Klaus Moje of Australia and Kimiake Higuchi, Kyohei Fujita, and Hiroshi Yamano of Japan. The museum will exhibit the collection in a dedicated gallery beginning in the spring of 2023.

According to the museum, the new acquisition combined with existing glass holdings will create one of the most prominent collections of glass sculpture in the United States. The museum was established in 2016 with a $35 million gift from Richard and Carolyn Barry—friends of the Waitzers—whose own glass collection helped form the corpus of the museum.

“We are delighted that these remarkable pieces will remain here in Hampton Roads…to honor [the Waitzers'] legacy," said Barry Art Museum executive director Charlotte Potter Kasic. "The Waitzers were visionary—and mentors to many of us in the field. They inspired our own founders and set a precedent for art appreciation across Norfolk and the region."

"We are excited that our parents' glass collection will remain intact as it reflects their progression in collecting over 40 years," said Waitzer Foundation president Brad Waitzer. “The donation also aligns with their lifelong interest in education, the arts, and the economic and cultural development of Hampton Roads….It seems particularly appropriate that it will live on with the Barrys' collection as the couples traveled and collected together over many years."

(Photo credit: Barry Art Museum/Old Dominion University)