Jan.13, 1998

     PHILANTHROPIST JOHN KLUGE GIVES IMPORTANT COLLECTION 
     OF AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINAL ART TO UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
	
           Businessman and philanthropist John W. Kluge has donated
the majority of his collection of 20th-century Australian aboriginal
art to the University of Virginia.  In December 1997, the 
institution accepted 1,570 objects from Kluge, who resides in
neighboring Albemarle County.  The collection is valued well in excess
of $5 million.
	Known as the "Kluge-Ruhe Collection," the gift includes
more than 900 objects previously owned by Edward Ruhe and purchased by
Kluge in 1993.  The Ruhe component of the collection includes
paintings, carvings, tools, ceremonial artifacts, and detailed
archives.  In addition, Kluge's extensive collection contains
paintings on bark, canvas, and paper, many of which he commissioned
directly from aboriginal communities.  
	"We are deeply grateful to John Kluge for his generosity in
donating this splendid collection to the University of Virginia,"
said President John T. Casteen III.  "This gift presents a unique
opportunity to build the University's arts collections and to
enhance the interdisciplinary study of world cultures.  The popular
and the educational appeal of this collection is enormous."
	John W. Kluge is the general partner, chairman, and president
of Metromedia Company, one of the largest privately held companies in
the United States.  Metromedia has businesses in the restaurant, food
and hospitality industry, in media, entertainment, telecommunications,
automotive components, robotic painting, computer software, and
medical technology.  Kluge's most recent enterprise is Metromedia
International Group, Inc., a public media and communications company.
Kluge's many philanthropic interests include medical research and
scholarships for minority students.  
	Kluge began collecting Australian aboriginal art in 1988
following the opening of the Dreamings exhibition at the Asia Society
Galleries in New York City.  Later, he acquired University of Kansas
Professor Edward Ruhe's collection, which includes works produced
in Arnhem Land from the mid-1950s until 1980.  Since 1996, Kluge has
sponsored four major commissions of contemporary art from aboriginal
communities in North and Central Australia.  Kluge's gift to the
University of Virginia will allow greater public access to the
collection and promote its use for education and research.
	The Kluge-Ruhe Collection is remarkable for its
comprehensiveness and size.  According to Margo Smith Boles, a curator
at Morven, Kluge's Virginia home, "The collection is especially
impressive for its broad representation of different regional styles
in painting and for its number of artifacts and archives.  The only
comparable collections in the world are found in Australia, and almost
all of these are held by national or state museums and galleries."  
        Aboriginal art is significant both as a contemporary
art form and as a means for expressing traditional relationships to
land and ancestors.  The stories depicted in aboriginal art relate to
ancestral beings who roamed the earth creating the landscape.
Aboriginal artists base their designs on stories that are passed down
from generation to generation through participation in ceremonial
life.  A November 1997 symposium on the art, held at Morven, drew
visitors from around the world. 
        In all, the Kluge-Ruhe Collection now owned by the University
of Virginia contains well over 800 paintings and more than 700 other
artifacts.  The gift also includes Kluge's library on aboriginal
art and a detailed electronic catalog.  The University will mount an
exhibit of pieces from the collection in the spring.  
                                  ###
	For more information, call Carol Wood, director of news
services or Clorisa Phillips, special projects consultant, University
of Virginia Foundation, at (804) 982-4864.  

	Artwork is available, by request, in black and white or color
prints by mail or e-mail.

Cutline information for illustrations:
No. 1 -- Ochre painting on bark attributed to Namerredje Guymala.
No. 2. -- Acrylic painting on board by Old Mick Tjakamarra. 


          U.Va. news online: http://www.virginia.edu/topnews