Abby Weed Grey Collection of Modern Asian and Middle Eastern Art

In the 1960s and early ’70s, when few Americans were attuned to contemporary art from Asia and the Middle East, Abby Weed Grey assembled a collection of some 700 works by artists from those regions. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1902, she graduated from Vassar College in 1924 and, at the age of 27, married Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Grey. Mrs. Grey spent the next twenty-seven years as an army wife, moving to different bases across the country, while her husband, without her knowledge, invested in railroad stocks and bonds. Upon his death in 1956, she relocated back to St. Paul with a sizeable inheritance. Feeling a responsibility to use her fortune wisely, she established the Ben and Abby Grey Foundation in 1961 with the express purpose of collecting art by living artists from non-Western countries.

From 1960 to 1973 this self-described “dyed-in-the-wool Midwesterner” traveled the world. She firmly believed in art’s power to stimulate dialogue between people, which she called “one world through art.” This aspirational vision coincided with a moment when, in response to shifting Cold War dynamics, the U.S. was actively engaged in cultural diplomacy and fostering international exchanges. Mrs. Grey’s mission was, however, also personal. In 1980 she wrote in her diary: “I wanted to know artists . . . because I thought they were motivated by the same impulses as I—the need to make something out of their life experiences and pass it along to others.” 

Mrs. Grey would eventually make eight trips to Iran and four trips each to Turkey and India, searching for artists who drew inspiration from their respective heritages while also engaging in global discourses around key issues of modernity. She also furthered cross-cultural exchange by organizing the first touring exhibitions of contemporary Iranian and Turkish art in the U.S. and, in 1968, by supporting the First India Triennale in New Delhi. 

In 1974 Mrs. Grey donated her collection to NYU and founded the Grey Art Gallery and Study Center at 33 Washington Place. She passed away in 1983, knowing that she had succeeded in her mission to encourage and support contemporary, non-Western artists and make their works more broadly available to students, scholars, and the public. Indeed, the Abby Weed Grey Collection of Modern Asian and Middle Eastern Art at NYU continues to inspire ongoing research and scholarship.