On Thursday, May 20th the Figge was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Riverboat Development Authority (RDA).  The grant will help fund the upcoming exhibition, Dancing Towards Death (September 18, 2010 – February 02, 2011).  The RDA was a leading contributor to the Figge Art Museum capital campaign and has sponsored a number of exhibitions, including Paper Trail: A Decade of Acquisition from the Walker Art Center and John Bloom: Visions of Iowa.
 
Dancing Towards Death focuses on a popular theme expressed throughout Western art over the last several hundred years; the Dance of Death (or Dance Macabre). The exhibition will examine the origins of the Dance of Death and its subsequent permutations, including examples from artists as diverse as Hans Holbein, Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, James Ensor, and Sue Coe. Visitors will have the opportunity to learn about a relevant and common cultural and historical theme as interpreted by some of the greatest artists from the Renaissance through the 20th Century.