The Block’s collection includes over 60 sculptural works. In 1988 museum founder Leigh Block donated a large group of bronze sculptures for indoor and outdoor display as well as an endowment for their maintenance. Works by such artists as Jean (Hans) Arp, Barbara Hepworth, Joan Miró, and Henry Moore constitute the core of the museum’s outdoor sculpture garden, designed by architect John Vinci and situated around the museum on Northwestern’s lushly landscaped campus. Over the years, The Block has selectively enhanced the garden with works by artists such as Bryan Hunt and Wolfgang Paalen. The museum building houses other portions of the Block’s sculpture collection, including Neil Goodman’s Subjects-Objects—a monumental site-specific work located on the wall of the stairway—and works by Jacques Lipchitz and Miró. Recent acquisitions to the sculture collection include works by Shan Goshorn, Mona Hatoum, Louise Lawler, Paul Ramírez Jonas, and Kara Walker.
The Block is also home to more than 60 wall hangings, weavings, and sculptural works by fiber artist Theo Leffmann. An ongoing display of these unique works, donated to the museum by Paul Leffmann, can be seen in the Theo Leffmann Gallery.
