A former Utah dairy farmer acquired 1,000 artworks for this museum. See his top 10 gets.

When the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art opened its doors in 1982, its galleries were nearly empty.

The earliest exhibitions at the Logan museum included the expected — Western landscapes, Navajo blankets and cowboy and Native American illustrations. But George Wanlass — the great-nephew of museum founder Nora Eccles Harrison — knew the space needed something more.

“We had a museum,” Wanlass said, “that was mostly just devoid of any contents that suited the magnificence of its setting.”

So he started collecting on its behalf, combining his own love of the West with what he learned as a teen touring museums in Europe with his Eccles relatives — and developing a unique eye for innovative and abstract pieces by artists whose significance had yet to be recognized.

Pursuing artworks as he ran a dairy farm in Cache Valley and later, a cattle ranch in Idaho, Wanlass acquired more than 1,000 works of NEHMA’s nearly 6,000-piece collection. Today, the museum prides itself on highlighting artists who have “fallen through the cracks of history.”

With the recent opening of his namesake Wanlass Center for Art Education and Research at the museum, The Salt Lake Tribune asked Wanlass to name 10 of his favorite acquisitions.

Now in his 80s and living in Big Timber, Montana, he picked 11 — each key to the collection that today anchors NEHMA and helped redefine what art from the American West could be.

Ruth Asawa’s hanging sculpture

Today, Ruth Asawa is a major name in the art world. However, Wanlass acquired this piece long before she skyrocketed.

In his early years of collecting, Wanlass was drawn to works that many overlooked. It was the thrill of discovery — the underground nature of the art and artists — that kept him searching.

“It boggles my mind that nobody fully appreciated it yet,” Wanlass said of the art he was buying. “But that’s not true today.”

At Asawa’s home in San Francisco, he fell in love with her sculptures, which filled her home. But Asawa wasn’t selling when Wanlass first visited.

He later received a surprise phone call from her daughter, who invited him to her home. There, she showed him a massive sculpture collapsed gently on the floor — its form designed to be suspended from the ceiling. He bought it for the museum on the spot.

“It was what you would call a tremendous basement bargain,” Wanlass said. “But the best part is it’s in the collection for everyone to enjoy.”

“Nurture,” by Agnes Pelton

Wanlass discovered treasure in junk shops or the attics of galleries, and by building relationships with artists and dealers. He heard about this painting by Agnes Pelton from a little-known dealer in northern California — an ex-Army man who had stumbled onto several works by Pelton and didn’t seem likely to stay in the art business for long.

Wanlass said the painting — according to the story he was told — had been found in a closet on a ranch. Whether or not that was true, Wanlass said he saw its quality immediately. He said Pelton, whose work blends mysticism and desert landscapes, was largely overlooked at the time. Today, her paintings are worth thousands of dollars.

“It’s one of the greatest purchases I ever made for the museum,” Wanlass said. “They’re just not available anymore.”

“Soeurs Obsidiennes,” by Wolfgang Paalen

Wanlass also studied books and exhibition catalogs to learn which artists curators believed were important. That research led him to Wolfgang Paalen, a European modernist who came to the Americas during World War II and founded a magazine in Mexico called Dyn.

Years later, a Paalen painting came up for auction in France. “Doing business in France is never simple,” Wanlass said with a laugh. But determined to bring the work into NEHMA’s collection, he arranged for someone to bid on his behalf.

“Beanstalk,” by Gordon Onslow Ford

Wanlass’s devotion took him into artists’ studios and homes, where he watched them at work — brush in hand, surrounded by pieces like those that would one day become part of NEHMA’s collection.

Wanlass first visited painter Gordon Onslow Ford at his home on the northern California coast, describing the location as a beautiful, tree-lined property with an architecturally significant house filled with artwork by like-minded artists.

“He showed me how he painted,” Wanlass said. Onslow Ford would lay the canvas flat on the floor and apply paint in sweeping gestures.

At the time of the visit, the artist’s prices were out of reach. But later, one of his major paintings surfaced at an auction in New York, where Wanlass was able to acquire it for the museum at a discounted price.

“Feria,” by Mary Henry

Some of the most memorable pieces in the museum’s collection, Wanlass said, were found off the beaten path. One example is a painting by Mary Henry, a Seattle-based artist whose work had been largely overlooked — like many women artists of her generation, Wanlass said.

He learned about the piece from a dealer representing Henry’s work. The dealer told Wanlass she had something special, and he made the trip to see the painting.

When it arrived at NEHMA, Wanlass and the museum director couldn’t wait to see it properly. The painting — a large, abstract composition — didn’t seem like much in a catalog, but its magic came alive in person.

“We took it upstairs, turned on the gallery lights, and it was like flipping a switch,” Wanlass said. “It lit up like it was plugged in.”

Untitled, by Marjorie Cameron

Though his day-to-day life was spent running a cattle ranch, far from the gleaming galleries of New York or London, Wanlass found time to travel the world in search of art.

“They have this thing called the vision quest,” he said, “where you’re looking for the Holy Grail. I think I was always looking for the next great piece of art.”

He would end up visiting both coasts to land a painting by Majorie Cameron, who he said was connected with a unusual — somewhat mysterious — circle of friends in Southern California. Among them was Jack Parsons, a rocket scientist and one of the founders of the Jet Propulsion Lab.

Wanlass first saw a group of Cameron’s paintings in Los Angeles — but they were stored in a cardboard box under a table, damp and mildewed. He said he was so upset by their condition he didn’t buy any at the time.

Later, he learned a dealer in New York was going to open a show of Cameron’s work. Before her paintings were even hung, Wanlass flew to the city with the exact painting he wanted in mind and bought it before the exhibit opened. The next person to come in and make selections was a representative from the Whitney Museum of American Art.

“Sometime’s it’s important to get ahead of others,” Wanlass said. “In this instance, I think this is one of the great Cameron works of art.”

“Dr. Jazz,” by Jay DeFeo

This piece was one of the most expensive Wanlass bought. “It’s subsequently been worth it,” he said, “because it’s received a lot of attention, and it’s one of her most important works of art.”

He was able to obtain it because a dealer he knew had connections with the person managing Jay DeFeo’s estate. She allowed Wanlass to purchase from a collection of pieces she believed were worth buying, Wanlass said.

“Untitled (The Dicks),” by Forrest Bess

Forrest Bess wasn’t widely known when Wanlass first encountered his work but is now highly regarded. Wanlass came across several Bess paintings at a New York gallery and had to decide between two: a large painting he loved and a smaller one featuring dozens of tiny insects.

Despite his limited budget, Wanlass chose the bigger piece — a decision he’s never regretted. Today, Bess’s work is rare and valuable, Wanlass said.

The Ninnekah, Lee Mullican

Wanlass’s first visit with artist Lee Mullican made such a lasting impression that, after purchasing this piece, he returned to Mullican’s Santa Monica studio with his mother, Kathryn C. Wanlass. There, Mullican ended up showing Wanlass’s mother how he painted.

“That memory is kind of indelible in my mind,” Wanlass said. “She and he were both captivated by what he was doing.”

“Interlocking Forms (Yellow, Orange, Black),” by Karl Benjamin

Wanlass first heard about this piece by Karl Benjamin from art dealer Tobey Moss, who called to tell him it was for sale through another gallery. Wanlass said Moss believed the museum should have it, and he trusted her judgment after he saw the painting.

Today, Benjamin — who lived for more than 50 years in a suburban home east of Los Angeles — is remembered as one of the most expansively intuitive artists of geometric abstraction, Wanlass said.

“Flowers of Fate,” by Karen Carson

When Wanlass traveled to see the work of Los Angeles-based artist Karen Carson, he was immediately taken with both the artist and her work. “I bought one of her paintings for the museum,” he said, speaking on a video call from his home, “and I also bought the one that’s hanging behind me right now.”

Wanlass and Carson eventually married and have been together for more than 20 years.

‘This artistic legacy’

Wanlass said he always understood that his efforts were about more than just filling gallery space — they were about creating a collection that would expose communities to the rich, often overlooked artistic history of their own region.

“When we think about the American West, I think of the cowboy movies I watched assiduously when I was growing up,” Wanlass said. “But that’s not what the West is about. It’s been filled, over many years, by these important artists, people that were interested in their own creative processes.”

“We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and we’re fortunate that way. But we also are fortunate because we have this artistic legacy, and it’s as wonderful in its own way as the mountains and the landscapes that surround us.”

“We all should know these artists, especially if we live in the American West.”