Jane L. Stern Gallery
Donald D. Powell, a Fargo native, was a prolific, award-winning architect and a keen art collector. Powell amassed a sizeable collection of European and American modern art in an array of media. He donated much of his impressive collection to the Plains Art Museum in several installments in 1999, 2000, 2002-3, 2005-9, 2013, and 2022.
Together with his long-time partner Robert D. Kleinschmidt, Powell focused on “interior architecture,” an approach that privileged the function of a space by designing from the inside out. Powell and Kleinschmidt’s architectural vision was minimalistic, harmonious, and gracefully utilitarian. Grids, screens, and monochromatic pallets recur throughout their work and are emulated in this exhibit’s design. The integration of art was carefully planned to animate their ordered spaces and to create intimacy between the viewer and the artwork.
A Little Grey For Color celebrates Powell’s legacy as an architect and art connoisseur by featuring a selection of his collection, including pieces by Helen Frankenthaler, Robert Motherwell, Victor Vasarely, Andy Warhol, Willem de Kooning, Claes Oldenburg, Henry Moore, and others.
