ArtBreak: A Gift to the City She Loved - Genevieve Gilmore’s Bequest

In February 1959, the front page of the Kalamazoo Gazette announced, “The city is to have a new art center,” with costs of construction paid by Mr. and Mrs. Donald S. Gilmore. In addition to their extraordinary philanthropy, the Gilmores were KIA board members, art collectors, and skilled artists. Mrs. Gilmore’s bequest to the KIA following her death in 1990 was 66 masterpieces from her personal collection, including works by Degas, Renoir, Rembrandt, Cassatt, and Matisse. During this ArtBreak, Dr. Jim Carter explores the life of Genevieve Upjohn Gilmore and her final gift to the city she loved.

Jim Carter is a retired physician who had a clinical practice of Internal Medicine in Kalamazoo for 36 years. He received his M.D. from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and his Internal Medicine training at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He has been involved with the KIA for over four decades as a photography student, board member, board president, and docent. As docent, he has led numerous tours for KIA visitors and presented a number of talks on a wide range of topics. His major area of interest is the intersection of art with medicine. Most recently, he wrote a comprehensive history of KIA for its centennial celebration.