Visual art
Robert Hudson Tannahill
1893–1969 · art collector, benefactor
Detroit-born heir to the Hudson's department store fortune who became one of the Detroit Institute of Arts' greatest benefactors.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
aged 76- Detroit years
- 1893–1969
- Field
- Visual art
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Tannahill was born in 1893 into the family behind J. L. Hudson's department store; his father, Robert Blyth Tannahill, worked in the Hudson business, and the boy grew up in a brick house of 1882 in what is now the Peterboro–Charlotte Historic District in Midtown. He used his inheritance to build a remarkable private collection of modern European painting, American art and African sculpture, and he shared it generously. During his lifetime he gave the Detroit Institute of Arts 475 works of art and $550,000 in cash, and his bequest after his death in 1969 brought the museum many more, including important Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. He also served on the City of Detroit Arts Commission from 1930 to 1962 and helped establish the Detroit Artists Market, a nonprofit gallery that has sold the work of local artists since the 1930s.
Highlights
- Gave the DIA 475 works of art and $550,000 during his lifetime
- His 1969 bequest added major modern paintings to the DIA
- Member of the City of Detroit Arts Commission, 1930–1962
- Helped found the Detroit Artists Market
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 3
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Related place · 1930s–1969
Detroit Institute of Arts (Friday Night Live!)
The museum he enriched with hundreds of gifts and a major bequest.
Founded · 1932–
Detroit Artists Market
Nonprofit gallery for local artists that he helped establish.
Born here · 1893–1910s
Tannahill family home, Peterboro–Charlotte Historic District
Status being checked
The 1882 house where he was born and grew up, in a Midtown historic district.