In most U.S. museums, Latinx and Chicanx art continue to be under-represented - if they are represented at all. But this will no longer be the case at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, Texas, which has received a massive gift that is likely to make its collection in that area one of the biggest in the country.

Gilberto Cárdenas and Dolores Garcia have given 5,650 works of Latinx and Chicanx art to the Blanton, which is located on the campus of the University of Texas, Austin. The majority of these works are set to remain in the holdings of the Blanton. Yet the Blanton also said it will work to distribute some of these pieces to other U.S. museums in an effort to grow the representation of Latinx art nationwide.

The gift is meant to complement the Blanton's expansion of its Latino art initiatives: The museum is set to hire an associate curator of Latinx art using funding from the Mellon Foundation, and it will unveil two galleries specific to that area in March.

artnews.com