The Kelton Foundation, also known as the Richard Kelton Foundation, in
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, was founded in 1983 as a private
charitable organization
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good).
The legal definitio ...
by real estate developer Richard Kelton, who died in 2019.
Its main activities comprise "
ethnographic, scientific and artistic investigations of humankind and the sea",
and it holds a vast collection of artworks, known as the Kelton Foundation Collection, or Kelton Collection.
Kelton was particularly interested in
maritime art
Marine art or maritime art is a form of figurative art (that is, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture) that portrays or draws its main inspiration from the sea. Maritime painting is a genre that depicts ships and the sea—a genre part ...
of the
Pacific region,
China Trade
The Old China Trade () refers to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. The Old ...
art,
ethnographic materials, and
Aboriginal Australian art
Indigenous Australian art includes art made by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including collaborations with others. It includes works in a wide range of media including painting on leaves, bark painting, wood carving ...
, and travelled and collected works until around 2007. He mounted his first exhibition in 1980 at the
Pacific Asia Museum
USC Pacific Asia Museum is an Asian art museum located at 46 N. Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California, United States.
The museum was founded in 1971 by the Pacificulture Foundation, which purchased "The Grace Nicholson Treasure House of Orienta ...
in
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
, believed to be the first Aboriginal Australian art exhibition in the United States.
[ The foundation mounts exhibitions, lends its objects and art to other institutions, and provides assistance to scholars undertaking related research.][
The Kelton Collection has held works by contemporary Indigenous Australian artists including Takariya Napaltjarri, Daisy Leura Nakamarra, ]Minnie Pwerle
Minnie Pwerle (also Minnie Purla or Minnie Motorcar Apwerl; born between 1910 and 1922 – 18 March 2006) was an Australian Aboriginal artist. She came from Utopia, Northern Territory (''Unupurna'' in local language), a cattle station in the ...
and Dhuwarrwarr Marika. Kelton had a particularly close affinity with Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri, but many many other artists are represented, from Arnhem Land
Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...
, the Tiwi Islands
The Tiwi Islands ( tiw, Ratuati Irara meaning "two islands") are part of the Northern Territory, Australia, to the north of Darwin adjoining the Timor Sea. They comprise Melville Island, Bathurst Island, and nine smaller uninhabited islands, wi ...
, the eastern Kimberley region
The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts ...
of Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
, and elsewhere.[
The foundation also funds the Blue World Web Museum,][ a "virtual museum" focused on maritime art, whose goal is to mount exhibitions on subjects otherwise unavailable online; to educate; and to stimulate public interest in maritime museums.][
]
References
Bibliography
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External links
Research programs supported by the Foundation
Charities based in California
Foundations based in the United States
Australian Aboriginal art
Museums in Los Angeles County, California
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