DENVER ART MUSEUM
Denver
News: Kent and Vicki Logan, who 25 years ago made the largest gift in the history of the Denver Art Museum’s modern and contemporary art department, were the honorees when the DAM hosted the 43rd edition of its signature fundraiser, Collectors’ Choice.
“The Logans are for real,” declared museum director Christoph Heinrich. “Many here tonight, and across our community, share a deep respect and admiration for the Logans’ decades-long passion for, and pioneering approach to, collecting modern and contemporary art.”
In fact, it was a chance meeting of Heinrich and the Logans at an Art Basil event that eventually led Heinrich to the Denver Art Museum. Both the Logans and Heinrich, who at the time was with the Hamburg Kunsthalle art museum in Germany, and his wife, Kira van Lil, were introduced at an Art Basil dinner hosted by Christie’s auction house.
“We spent a wonderful evening with them, and I took their business card,” Heinrich recalled, adding that he had hoped to interest them in supporting his then-employer. Fast forward to 2006, and Heinrich traveled to Vail, where the Logans live, and met them for dinner at Sweet Basil.
That meeting led to Heinrich joining the Denver Art Museum in 2007 as curator of contemporary art, a department established in 1978. He became the Jan and Frederic Mayer Director in 2010 and the friendship between the Logans, Heinrich and van Lil continues to grow.
The Logans, who are known internationally as collectors of note, associated themselves with the Denver Art Museum in 2000 and in 2001 gifted it with over 300 works of art that reflect their global perspective and represent some of the most innovative art of the 1990s and early 21st century.
In addition, they are among the first Americans to champion contemporary Chinese artists, as well as major works by such acclaimed indigenous artists as Kent Monkman, Jeffrey Gibson, Fritz Scholder, Virgil Ortiz and Rose B. Simpson.
Outside the Denver Art Museum, the Logans are generous benefactors in the Vail Valley, supporting organizations such as Vail Behavioral Health and Bravo! Vail and the Vail Valley Foundation.
“Kent and Vicki, your leadership and vision is extraordinary,” said DAM board chair Sarah Anschutz. “We value you so much.”
In his acceptance remarks, Kent Logan said his relationship with the Denver Art Museum has been “A wonderful journey. (Former modern and contemporary art curator) Dianne Vanderlip made that connection 25 years ago. Our approach to philanthropy is to make a difference, and thanks to Dianne and two great men who had a great vision, Fred Hamilton and Lanny Martin, we’ve been able to do that.”
Collectors’ Choice 43 was chaired by Suzanne Farver, Clint Van Zee, Vicky and Trygve Myhren, Judy Robins, Michelle Sie Whitten and Tom Whitten. Honorary chairs were Sarah Anschutz, Sharon Martin, Susan and Larry Marx, Amanda J. Precourt, Susan and Lewis Sharp and Dianne Vanderlip.
Net proceeds are expected to top $900,000.
Festivities began with a Welcome Hour featuring cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in and around the museum’s Morgridge Creative Hub. Afterward, guests adjourned to Sturm Pavilion for dinner, the program and a musical interlude by Navajo composer and pianist Connor Chee.
As the dinner service ended, Heinrich shared the news that in 2026 the Denver Art Museum will be the only U.S. venue to showcase DIVA, an exhibition featuring “Everything from opera singers to Beyonce and Lady Gaga … a fashion and lifestyle show that is like nothing we’ve ever shown before.” Heinrich added that Joy and Chris Dinsdale are presenting DIVA.
Guests finished the evening with desserts and coffee and music from the 70s and 80s by the Doc Sadler Band, whose members include Dr. Chris Law, a member of the Denver Art Museum board of trustees. Law, a plastic surgeon, plays bass. He and his wife, Lu, also served on the gala committee.
About the organization: Located in the Civic Center neighborhood, the Denver Art Museum is home to what has been described as “An encyclopedic collection” of more than 70,000 works from across the centuries and around the world. It is one of the largest art museums between the West Coast and Chicago and is known for its collection of American Indian Art and the Petrie Institute of Western American Art. Currently it is the only place in the United States to see Pissarro’s Impressionism, the first major American retrospective of Camille Pissarro, a Danish-French painter known as the Father of Impressionism for his talent in capturing the effects of light and color in rural landscapes and cityscapes.
Website: denverartmuseum.org
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Photo StevePeterson.photo
Photo StevePeterson.photo
Photo StevePeterson.photo
Photo StevePeterson.photo
