The Ringling Receives Gift of Art from Murray and Kay Delaney Bring

January 6, 2021 – Sarasota

The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art is pleased to announce a recent gift of art to the museum from Murray Bring and Kay Delaney Bring. The donors will contribute 22 works of art by important artists in support of the modern and contemporary collection at The Ringling.

“The museum is ecstatic to receive this generous gift from Mr. and Mrs. Bring,” said Steven High, Executive Director. “These acquisitions will greatly expand our contemporary art collection. We are excited to soon be able to share these with the community.”

The Bring collection includes fine examples of contemporary art by established and celebrated American, British and Japanese artists. The artworks range from the mid-1950s to late-1990s, and include sculpture, painting, and works on paper. The most significant are the examples in bronze, steel, stone and marble by renowned sculptors including Anthony Caro, Clement Meadmore, Beverly Pepper, George Ricky, Kenneth Snelson, and Mark di Suvero, who are well known for their large-scale outdoor pieces, including major international public art commissions. Another highlight of the gift includes a significant work by Anne Truitt and an important stripe painting by Gene Davis, both artists affiliated with the Washington Color School. These artists’ works are collected widely and important institutions in America and abroad have held solo exhibitions of their work.

“This tremendous gift from the Bring collection significantly strengthens the Museum’s holdings of American and European abstract and minimalist art”, said Ola Wlusek, Keith D. and Linda L. Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at The Ringling. She added; “We look forward to developing exciting exhibitions to engage our audiences with these new acquisitions and to continuing to build our contemporary art collection in diverse, meaningful, and lasting ways.”

Murray Bring and Kay Delaney Bring now live full time in Sarasota, previously having resided in New York City and most recently in East Hampton, New York. Bring served as a law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren and was actively involved in the Cuban missile crisis. He later served as general counsel at Philip Morris companies and finished his career there as vice chairman. Bring participated in the development of the Philip Morris Corporate art collection and is a life-long collector of contemporary art. Locally, he has served as board member and chair of the Sarasota Opera Association. Kay Bring was one of the first employees at CNN and retired as their International VP for Advertising Sales. She is a former member of the Sarasota Ballet Board and, together The Brings are supporters of the Sarasota Opera, the Sarasota Ballet, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Asolo, the Florida Studio Theater, the West Coast Black Theater Troupe, and The Ringling College of Art and Design. Mr. Bring was one of the founders of the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College.