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WORKS BY RENOWNED ARTISTS, DONATED BY PETER LYNCH TO BOSTON COLLEGE’S McMULLEN MUSEUM OF ART, ON DISPLAY THIS FALL  
$20 Million Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection Includes Masterpieces by World’s Most Acclaimed Artists

Chestnut Hill, Mass. (September 2023) — Works by Albert Bierstadt, Mary Cassatt, Frederic Edwin Church, Childe Hassam, Martin Johnson Heade, Winslow Homer, Fitz Henry Lane, Pablo Picasso, Jack Butler Yeats, and many more of the world’s most acclaimed artists will be on display at Boston College beginning this fall, thanks to a donation from the private collection of famed investor and University alumnus Peter Lynch and his late wife, Carolyn. The paintings are now part of the permanent collection of the McMullen Museum of Art at Boston College.

The Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection comprises 27 paintings and three drawings from 20 renowned artists. The Lynch Collection will be on public display beginning on October 2 in the University Conference Center, located on the first floor of 2101 Commonwealth Avenue on the Brighton Campus of Boston College.

Among the notable pieces in the collection are Martin Johnson Heade’s Orchid and Hummingbirds near a Mountain Lake; Pablo Picasso’s drawing L’homme barbu (Bearded Man); Winslow Homer’s painting Grace Hoops; Mary Cassatt’s watercolor Mother and Child; John Singer Sargent’s painting Olive Trees, Corfu; and Jack Butler Yeats’s 1929 painting Farewell to Mayo, which British actor Sir Laurence Olivier gifted as a wedding present to actress Vivien Leigh.
“My family and I could not be more excited about the opening of this permanent exhibit at Boston College,” said Peter Lynch, vice chairman of Fidelity Management and Research Company, and a 1965 BC graduate and current trustee associate at Boston College. “Every item in this collection was selected in a joint manner by my late wife Carolyn and me, and in most cases, Carolyn was the lead advocate. It brings great joy to my family knowing that the collection will be enjoyed by BC students and the wider community for generations to come.”

Nancy Netzer, Inaugural Robert L. and Judith T. Winston Director of the McMullen Museum and Professor of Art History, praised Lynch and his family “for this transformational gift of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century paintings and drawings.

“By positioning their thoughtfully crafted collection in an academic setting, a university founded in the mid-nineteenth century with a deep commitment to the study of the liberal arts and the education of the whole person, the Lynches inspire our faculty, staff, and students to pursue further investigation of the works in an expansive historical context,” said Netzer.  “The McMullen looks forward to sharing—with the public and for generations to come—these outstanding artistic examples of their kind and the knowledge about them as that knowledge develops. These cultural artifacts present our audiences tangible links to the past thereby creating new empirical research, teaching, and learning opportunities, even for drawing connections to the fabric of our present society.”
The Lynch Collection will be displayed along with paintings from the McMullen Museum’s permanent collection. A mobile guide with contributions on each work written by Boston College faculty in a wide range of disciplines will accompany the installation, which will be open to the public free of charge during Museum hours, with exceptions for special events. For a calendar, visit here.  

The Carolyn A. and Peter S. Lynch Collection consists of the following artwork:

Albert Bierstadt (American, 1830–1902)
Owens Valley, California, circa 1872, oil on panel
Near the South Pass of the Rocky Mountains, 1863, oil on panel
Newport Rocks, 1859, oil on panel
The Approaching Storm: White Mountain View with Hay Wagon and Figures, 1861, oil on canvas

William Bradford (American, 1823–92)
Among the Ice Floes, 1878, oil on canvas
Trapped in Packed Ice, 1877, oil on canvas
                                               
James Edward Buttersworth (American, 1817–94)
Racing Yachts, oil on canvas

Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926) 
Mother and Child, circa 1889, Watercolor on paper

Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900)
New England Landscape, 1849, oil on board

Sanford Robinson Gifford (American, 1823–80)
The Ruins of the Parthenon, 1869–80, oil on canvas

William Stanley Haseltine (American, 1835–1900)
Rocks at Narragansett, 1863, oil on canvas

Childe Hassam (American, 1859–1935)
Water Hazard—Maidstone Links, 1923, oil on canvas
Spring Flowering Trees, circa 1900,oil on canvas

Martin Johnson Heade (American, 1819–1904)
Two Green-Breasted Hummingbirds, 1863–64, oil on canvas
Orchid and Hummingbirds near a Mountain Lake, 1875–90, oil on canvas

Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910)
Grace Hoops, 1872, oil on canvas

George Inness (American, 1825–94)
In the Evening,1866,oil on canvas

John Frederick Kensett (American, 1816–72)
On the Beverly Coast, 1865, oil on canvas

Fitz Henry Lane (American, 1804–65)
View of Gloucester Harbor, 1858, oil on canvas
Sunset after a Storm, 1858, oil on canvas

Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973)
L’homme barbu (Bearded Man),pencil and white pigment on paper

Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886–1957)
Family, 1934, ink on paper

Robert Salmon (British/American, 1775–1845)
View in Boston Harbor, Ship Going Out, 1832, oil on panel

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856–1925)
Olive Trees, Corfu, 1909, oil on canvas
Study of A Fig Tree, 1908, oil on canvas

Aaron Shikler (American, 1922–2015)
Study for the White House Portrait of Jacqueline Kennedy, 1968, oil on canvas

Francis Augustus Silva (American, 1835–86)
Approaching Storm, 1871, oil on canvas

Jack Butler Yeats (Irish, 1871–1957)
Farewell to Mayo, 1929, oil on paper
Rushing Waters, 1947, oil on canvas
Quiet Men,1946,oil on canvas
[Media Note: A selection of press images and captions is available here. Please email Kate Shugert with questions.]

McMullen Museum of Art

The McMullen Museum aims to cultivate learning, celebrate artistic excellence, explore the visual traditions of diverse cultures, and inspire transdisciplinary faculty and student research based on the visual arts. The McMullen offers exhibition-related programs and resources for diverse audiences of all ages on campus, in the Greater Boston area, and beyond.

The Museum mounts exhibitions of international scholarly importance from all periods and cultures of the history of art. In keeping with the University’s central teaching mission, exhibitions are accompanied by academic catalogues and related public programs. The McMullen Museum of Art was named in 1996 for the late BC benefactor, trustee, and art collector John J. McMullen and his wife Jacqueline McMullen. In 2005, the McMullen Family Foundation provided a lead gift to renovate and build an addition to the Museum’s new venue at 2101 Commonwealth Avenue. Designed in 1927 in the Roman Renaissance Revival style by architects Maginnis and Walsh, it originally served as the home of Boston’s cardinal archbishop. The renovation was completed in spring 2016 and opened to the public on September 12, 2016. Admission to the McMullen Museum is free. For hours, directions, parking, and program information, visit mcmullenmuseum.bc.edu.