Saint Vincent College receives 88 paintings in major art bequest

The art collection at Saint Vincent College has increased in size and scope with a bequest of 88 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings from philanthropists Michael and Aimee Rusinko Kakos of Latrobe and Winter Park, Fla.

The collection principally includes works from the 1880s through the 1930s. Many are by artists who worked alongside iconic artists of that time period, but whose names are not as well-known to the public.

Artists featured in the Rusinko Kakos Collection include Sir George Clausen, Victor Vignon, Victor Charreton, Suzanne Valadon, Henri Lebasque, Maximillien Luce, Georges d’Espagnat, Arthur Hacker, Stanhope Forbes and Mark Fisher.

“The emphasis of the collection is on European artists, but everyone has ties to Europe, is working in Europe,” said Andrew Julo, director of the college’s Verostko Center for the Arts and curator of the Saint Vincent Art & Heritage Collections. “That’s where these works were primarily collected by Aimee and Michael, who lived in London for more than 40 years.”

The collection expands access to a pivotal period of European painting largely unavailable for public viewing across Western Pennsylvania, Julo said.

“Outside of the Carnegie Museum of Art (in Pittsburgh), there aren’t that many institutions that make this period of painting available for public view in depth,” he said. “We feel that this elaborates both on what’s available for view generally and certainly within Westmoreland County.”

In September, the Verostko Center will mount a signature exhibition, “Impressionist Legacies: The Michael and Aimee Rusinko Kakos Collection,” which will link the luminaries of the movement with their under-recognized contemporaries. Details will be announced in early August.

One exciting aspect of the collection, Julo said, is that some of the featured artists made their American debuts as part of the Carnegie International, a global exhibition of contemporary art founded in 1896 by industrialist Andrew Carnegie and presented every three to five years by the Carnegie Museum.

“It was in nearby Pittsburgh that Americans became aware of somebody like Henri Lebasque or Arthur Hacker,” Julo said.

Educational tools

The Kakoses consider the donated works to be tools to help people learn about an important period of European painting, he said.

“While many opt to auction their collections, the Kakoses have instead generously offered these works to an academic institution, allowing them to educate and enrich new audiences,” Julo said. “Our hope is to illuminate some of the artists who have been sidelined in art history.

“The collection’s real strength is to help us tell some under-told stories,” he said. “My hope is that people will become aware of their really interesting biographies and the ways in which they’re connected to the mainstays of Impressionism and early modernism.”

The Kakoses are longtime contributors to local arts and culture organizations, including Saint Vincent College and Archabbey.

They have supported early childhood literacy, access to the arts and major initiatives in higher education through scholarships and endowments at The Pennsylvania State University; Manhattan College and Niagara University, both in New York; and Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.

With a background in materials research, Michael Kakos holds several foreign and domestic patents. In 1987, he founded Resin Express, which distributed engineering thermoplastic raw materials for major worldwide producers and suppliers. His wife joined the company in 1989, eventually becoming company director. The Kakoses sold the business in 1997.

The Rusinko Kakos Collection forms part of the Saint Vincent Art & Heritage Collection, a holding of more than 4,000 items, ranging from ancient to contemporary works.

Now housed within the Verostko Center, the bequest dramatically expands Saint Vincent’s holdings of 19th- and 20th-century European art. Selected works will be on view on a rotating basis.

The collection is supported by a $1 million endowment that underwrites future conservation and interpretation.

“Artwork assembled on campus serves as both an educational resource and an inspiration for our students, faculty and staff,” said Saint Vincent College President Paul Taylor. “We are proud to be able to share these works with the public.”