Celebration will fall upon the Columbus art scene as present-day artists look back in time to honor the works and contributions of artist Eva Glimcher.

The Columbus Museum of Art will exhibit “Keeping Pace: Eva Glimcher and Pace/Columbus” to honor Glimcher and her long-lasting impact on the appreciation of and support for contemporary art in Columbus.

Pace/Columbus was founded in 1965 by Glimcher as a branch of the Pace Gallery, an important contemporary art gallery with eight locations in New York, London, Beijing and Hong Kong.

The Columbus branch was located on Broad Street, just blocks from the CMA, and it closed in 1982 after Glimcher passed away.

“Keeping Pace,” as one of the inaugural exhibitions for the CMA’s newly built wing, will be open to the public from Sunday to Jan. 17.

“There was an art world in Columbus before Eva Glimcher, and there was one after,” said Tyler Cann, the curator of contemporary art at the CMOA. “Nobody would show work that was quite as ambitious as Pace Gallery was and as Eva Glimcher was.”

Cann also said because the culture of contemporary art was not common in Columbus, Pace/Columbus became a very important platform for contemporary art in the city.

“Many of the leading collectors in Columbus bought their first work from Eva Glimcher,” he said. “She changed people’s perception of contemporary art here.”

Nancy Colvin, the manager of marketing and communications at the CMA, said Glimcher not only “introduced all kinds of new contemporary art” to Columbus but she also “brought those artists here and helped to encourage the love of art collection” in Columbus.

“Pace/Columbus held a series of exhibitions by significant artists at a moment when there were few other avenues for regularly experiencing contemporary art in Columbus,” Colvin said.

Colvin said this exhibition is to celebrate a transformational moment in Columbus’ history in combination with the transformational moment in the museum’s history because the new wing is opening.

The exhibition will focus on six artists whose works were represented at Pace/Columbus: Jim Dine, Jean Dubuffet, Louise Nevelson, Lucas Samaras, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol, Colvin said.

“In Columbus, as in the larger world, these artists helped transform the sense of what art can be,” Colvin said.

The exhibition will include painting, photography and sculpture. A documentary film about Glimcher and Pace/Columbus will also accompany the exhibition.  

The exhibition will feature pieces shown at Pace/Columbus along with other works on loan from Pace Gallery, Colvin said. The private collection of Herb and Dee Dee Glimcher, Eva’s son and daughter-in-law, will also be featured.

“The art scene in Columbus has really grown and flourished, so this exhibition is really a nice opportunity to look back at the history of Columbus and this figure — Eva Glimcher — who transformed art in Columbus,” Cann said.