9200 Wayzata Blvd, Minneapolis, MN 55426; PO Box 1113, Minneapolis, MN 55440.
612-764-7269 ( Info: (763) 764-7629)
Fax[ 612-764-7269
Website address[ http://www.genmills.com
Personnel[ Curator, Donald B. McNeil.
Governing[ Corporation.
Business[ Manufacturer of food products; retail trade; restaurants.
Year[ 1958.
Size[ Approximately 1,500 works.
Description[The collection is contemporary art with a balance between regional and national, traditional and avant-garde; media include paintings, original prints, sculptures, tapestries and multi-media works. The majority of the works are by living artists. The collection is regularly rotated throughout the headquarters to provide maximum exposure. Some of the artists represented include Jim Dine, David Hockney, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Mapplethorpe.
The company has recently acquired additional works during 2001 and 2002 in preparation for the opening in September 2003 of two new buildings at its headquarters in Minneapolis, to accommodate Pillsbury Co., which was acquired in 2001. In one of the new buildings, a glass atrium, designed by New York artist James Carpenter, has a series of treated glass fins inside and out to capture, color and bounce light down into the indoor space.
A special feature of the collection is a group of sculptures located on the company grounds, courtyards and terraces. Outdoor sculpture became a natural extension of the company's existing artistic commitment in the mid-'80s with the redesign of General Mills' 85-acre campus. There were 16 pieces available for public viewing before construction (still ongoing) closed off about half the collection, but several major pieces are visible and open for close inspection to anyone circling the company's main drive. One such piece is Jackie Ferarra's "Stone Court," a limestone wall built into a sculpted hillside. The dominant piece in the collection is Jonathan Borofsky's "Man With Briefcase," a 30-foot-tall slab of steel only two inches thick, with a workaday man stamped out of the center. The grounds house work from other nationally and internationally prominent artists ˜ Richard Serra, Mel Kendrick, Richard Artschwager.
Location[ Throughout the headquarters building in Minneapolis and on the grounds. The outdoor sculptures can be seen at: U.S. 169 and Interstate 394 at General Mills Boulevard. Approximately 70% of the collection is located in office and general work areas; the remainder are in hallways, reception areas and lounges.
Viewing[ The collection inside of the headquarters may be viewed by appointment only. The grounds are open to the public.
Status[ Ongoing
Source[ Artists, art dealers.
Selection[ In-house corporate staff person.
Review[ Will accept unsolicited material (slides, catalogues, etc); write or call before attempting to visit.
Loans[ Will loan to approved museums, colleges and universities, and galleries.
Exhibitions[ "The Extended Landscape: Works from the General Mills Collection," College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, 1990.
"Selections from the General Mills Art Collection," Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL, 1988.
"Prints and Drawings: Works on Paper from the General Mills Art Collection," C. M. Russell Museum, Great Falls, MT, 1985.
"Unique Works on Paper: Selections from the General Mills Art Collection," Triton College, River Grove, IL; Charles Allis Art Museum, Milwaukee, 1982.
"Prints from the General Mills Collection," Carleton College, Northfield, MN; Mankato State University, Mankato, MN; St. Mary's College, Winona, MN; Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, IA; Cedar Rapids Art Center, Cedar Rapids, IA; Krannert Graduate School of Management, Purdue University, 1979-1981.
"General Mills Art Collection," Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, FL, 1981.
"Business Buys American Art," organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1960.
Programs[ Employee educational programs (lectures, special exhibitions, tours of local institutions, employee art club.
Bibliography[ "General Mills retains corporate 'culture'," by Karren Mills, Associated Press, Aug. 05, 2003.
"Public art abounds in the cities and suburbs," by Matt Peiken, Pioneer Press, June 8, 2003.
"America's Best Corporate Art Collections," Patrick Pacheco, Art & Antiques, January 1996, pp 32-41.
"General Mills a Deserved Salute for Arts Leadership," Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 26, 1995, p 22A.
Art for Work, Marjory Jacobson, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, 1993, pp. 134-139.
"Art and Public Space," SD, November 1992, pp. 84-87.
"The Corporate Ladder: General Mills Sculpts a Garden of Art," Architecture Minnesota, September/October 1991, pp. 44-47.
"General Mills' Program Encourages Creativity," Corporate ARTnews, January 1990, p. 1.
"Corporate Pleasures," Art in America, December 1988, pp. 38-41.
"Art Works: Corporate Collections Put Art to Work," Hermes, Fall 1988, pp. 16-24.
"General Mills' Sculpture Garden," Arts: The Magazine for Members of the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts, January 1988, pp. 26-27.
"State-of-the-Art Collections," Minneapolis St.Paul, April 1987, pp. 62-67.
"General Mills - A Major Collector in the Midwest," Corporate ARTnews, March/April 1985, pp. 6-7.
"Art for Architecture's Sake," Architecture Minnesota, January-February 1984, pp. 22-25.
"Keepers of Corporate Art," Fortune Magazine, March 21, 1983, pp. 120-121.
"The Corporate Curator," Minnesota Monthly, August 1982, pp. 11-13.
"Confessions of the Corporate Art Hunters," ARTnews, Summer 1982, pp. 108-112.
"The Business of Selling Art to Business," Decor, May 1982, pp. 71-82. General Mills Art Collection, introduction by Donald B. McNeil, Loch Haven Art Center, Orlando, FL, 1981.
Business Buys American Art, foreword by David A. Praeger and David M. Solinger, Whitney Museum of American Art, 1960.
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