The Tennessee State Museum has been given more than 300 works by Nashville artist Red Grooms.
According to reports, the artwork was being donated from the collection of Walter and Sarah Knestrick.
Walter Knestrick is a former chairman of the Tennessee Arts Commission who was childhood friends with Grooms in Nashville where they were both 1955 graduates of Hillsboro High School.
Knestrick began collecting Grooms' works since his friend began doodling in fifth grade.
Grooms later moved to New York where he gained international fame for his sculptures, paintings, installation art, and filmmaking.
Knestrick said he had long wanted to donate the collection, but couldn't find a suitable space. That changed with the construction of a new Tennessee State Museum, which has been scheduled to open in 2018.
