One of the works donated to the ICA by Barbara Lee is this room-size installation by Kara Walker. (Image courtesy of the ICA)
BOSTON – The Institute of Contemporary Art received the biggest gift in its history Thursday as local philanthropist Barbara Lee donated 20 works of art valued at $42 million, museum officials said.
The Seaport District museum said the sculpture, prints, videos and a room-size installation would be added to the Barbara Lee Collection of Art by Women, which was established in 2014. Lee is a member of the ICA board.
“My gift puts women artists front and center at an institution known for breaking barriers,” Lee said in a statement released by the museum. “The ICA’s vision aligns powerfully with my own. The museum has a spirit of independence, defies expectations, and challenges the status quo – all things that embody my life’s work to empower women.”
The Lee collection “brings together painting, sculpture, and photography by iconic modern and contemporary artists whose work and ideas have changed the course of art history,” according to the ICA website. It says the collected work “presents personal and political explorations of identity; feminism; materiality; and the body as the site of pleasure, violence, repression and expression.”
One of the works donated to the ICA by Barbara Lee is this room-size installation by Kara Walker. (Image courtesy of the ICA) 
