About the Gallery:
In 1952 the curators of the Bagasse and Gematria Mumblestoats Museum of Depressionist Art were approached by the executors of the estate of the late Gladys Ralston (née Dwindlebimmers) with a proposal to open a sculpture wing as part of a bequest by Mrs. Ralston.
Mrs. Ralston's late husband Abercrombie, heir to the Redbone meat-packing family fortune, had scoured the world searching for items that met his artistic criteria for lack of provenance, innate perplexity and lack of utility, purpose or identity. His intention was to reflect the couple's own histories, for neither had a family tree, being career orphans from no place in particular. Thus the Ralston's collection is famous for having not a single identifiable artist in it, to commemorate their own uncertain origins.
The proposal for a separate wing attached to the museum was controversial, since the objects to be displayed within it had nothing to do with Depressionism.
However, Mrs. Mumblestoats agreed to allow the sculpture wing to operate as a wholly independent part of the Museum, with its own curators and staff. This settled, the "Gladys Dwindlebimmers Ralston Gallery of the Unidentifiable," under the able direction of Dr. Tulip A. Pandowdy, was formally opened on June 14, 1954.
click on a sculpture below to see enlarged image and commentary:
THE COLLECTION