‘The Founding Gifts’ exhibit celebrates art museum’s beginnings

The South Dakota Art Museum has opened 'The Founding Gifts,' a summerlong exhibition running from March 29 to September 21, celebrating the people and collections that established the museum. The exhibit highlights three key contributors: artist Harvey Dunn, whose 1950 donation of homesteading-era paintings formed the museum's foundational collection; the South Dakota General Federation of Women’s Clubs, which advocated for a permanent art museum and donated its art collection in 1970; and Congressman Benjamin Reifel, the first Lakota person elected to U.S. Congress, who loaned his Plains art collection in 1977, founding the museum's Native American collection. A free public reception is planned for August 8.