Viola Estella Bray

November 2011 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Viola E. Bray Renaissance Gallery at the Flint Institute of Arts. Mrs. Viola E. Bray (1873–1961), a Flint native, avid art collector, and philanthropist, donated nearly 60 Renaissance and Baroque art objects, along with a specially designed gallery to display them. In her lifetime, Mrs. Bray also collected hundreds of fine examples of paperweights and other works of glass, many of which are now in the FIA collection (given by Mr. and Mrs. William L. Richards, her son-in-law and daughter). Mrs. Bray chose to share her enthusiasm for art and history with the community in which she lived and worked by establishing her namesake gallery, along with the Bray Charitable Trust, providing funds for the care and maintenance of the collection, the acquisition of new works, and other cultural endeavors. An avid art collector, Mrs. Bray not only acquired beautiful works but also studied them closely as a way to gain insight into the past.

In addition to her social and community groups, Mrs. Bray spent much time researching her family's history, eventually writing and publishing a book on her and her husband's ancestry. Her research skills and desire for knowledge carried over to her collecting practices. She loved to research and record everything there was to know about the works she acquired. She traveled to the East Coast and Europe to collect art, and it was on one of her travels east that she visited French & Company in New York City. At this gallery, she purchased the set of ten French tapestries that would become the centerpiece of the Renaissance and Baroque collection she donated to the FIA.
Viola Bray died on May 24, 1961. However, her memory lives on in her collection and in the gallery she established, and the Bray Charitable Trust continues to care for that precious collection of art, which she gave to the people of Flint.