2015-12-31

Museum of Fine Arts - Houston - Texas - U.S.A.

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Located in the heart of Houston's Museum District, the MFAH is a dynamic cultural complex comprising two gallery buildings, a sculpture garden, visitors center, library, movie theater, gift shop, café, two art schools, and two house museums.


 
 

2015-12-30

The Menil Collection - Houston - Texas - U.S.A.

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The Menil Collection is an art museum located in Houston, Texas, USA, in a 30-acre neighborhood of art. The main building houses special exhibitions and the permanent collection, and it anchors a campus with three other museum buildings: two are dedicated to single artists (Cy Twombly and Dan Flavin) and another to year-long installation projects; a fourth building is under construction for a drawing institute. Known for displays that allow the objects and works of art to speak for themselves—there are no “didactics” on the wall or media in the galleries—the Menil philosophy is to foster each individual’s direct, personal encounter with works of art. The display of carefully chosen artworks in sympathetic settings are Menil hallmarks.
 
 
 
 
 
 

2015-12-29

Rice Art Gallery - Houston - Texas - U.S.A.

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The only university art museum in the nation dedicated to site-specific installation art, Rice Gallery presents temporary, large-scale environments that visitors can enter and explore. Artists typically use inexpensive materials to create stunning works of art.


 
 

2015-12-28

Blaffer Art Museum - Houston - Texas - U.S.A.

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BLAFFER ART MUSEUM furthers the understanding of contemporary art through exhibitions, publications, and public programs of merit and distinction. As the GATEWAY between the University of Houston and the City of Houston, Blaffer Art Museum is a CATALYST for creative innovation, experimentation, and scholarship. Its exhibitions and programs are FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, create community through dialogue and participation and inspire an appreciation for the visual arts as a VITAL FORCE in shaping contemporary culture.


 
 
 
 

2015-12-25

Honolulu Museum of Art - Honolulu - Hawai - U.S.A.

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The Honolulu Academy of Arts was founded in 1927 by Anna Rice Cooke, a woman born into a prominent missionary family on O‘ahu in 1853. Growing up in a home that appreciated the arts, she went on to marry Charles Montague Cooke, also of a prominent missionary family, and the two settled in Honolulu. In 1882, they built a home on Beretania Street, on the site that would become home to the museum.
As Charles Cooke prospered, he and his wife began to assemble an art collection, starting with “parlor pieces” from the shop of furniture maker Yeun Kwock Fong Inn who had ceramics and textile pieces sent from his brother in China. Fong Inn eventually became one of Honolulu’s leading art importers.

When the Cookes’ art collection outgrew their home, Anna Rice Cooke decided to create Hawai‘i’s first visual arts museum, which would reflect the islands’ multicultural make-up, for the children of Hawai‘i. In 1920, she and her daughter Alice (Mrs. Phillip Spalding), her daughter-in-law Dagmar (Mrs. Richard Cooke), and Mrs. Isaac Cox, an art and drama teacher, began to catalogue and research the collection as a first step.

With little formal training, these women obtained a charter for the museum from the Territory of Hawai‘i in 1922. The Cookes donated their Beretania Street land for the museum, along with an endowment of $25,000, and the family home was torn down to make way for the new institution. They hired New York architect Bertram Goodhue to design the plans. Goodhue died before the project was completed, and his colleague Hardie Phillip finished the job. Over the years, the museum's revival mission style has been imitated in many buildings throughout the state.
Since it opened, the museum has grown steadily, both in acquisitions and in stature, to become one of the finest museums in the United States. Additions to the original building include a library (1956), an education wing (1960), a gift shop (1965), a cafe (1969), a contemporary gallery, administrative offices and 280-seat theater (1977), and an art center for studio classes and expanded educational programming (1989).
The museum’s permanent collection has grown from 500 works to more than 50,000 pieces spanning 5,000 years, with significant holdings in Asian art, American and European painting and decorative arts, 19th- and 20th-century art, an extensive collection of works on paper, Asian textiles, and traditional works from Africa, Oceania, and the Americas.
From Anna Rice Cooke’s vision has grown one of the most beautiful and extraordinary museums in the world with state-of-the-art facilities for displaying its internationally renowned art collection. It is the state’s leading arts institution and the city’s center for visual and performing arts. The Academy’s mission continues to reflect Mrs. Cooke’s vision by being dedicated to the collection, preservation, interpretation, and teaching of the visual arts, and the presentation of exhibitions, performing arts, and public programs specifically relevant to Hawai‘i’s ethnically diverse community.

In 1961, Thurston Twigg-Smith opened an art gallery—the Contemporary Art Center—within the Honolulu Advertiser building, which he owned. The gallery featured work from Twigg-Smith's collection and work by local artists. In 1988, the Twigg-Smith family donated Spalding House, which was built by Honolulu Academy of Arts founder Anna Rice Cooke, to create The Contemporary Museum, a private, nonprofit museum for contemporary art in Honolulu.

In 2011, The Contemporary Museum gifted its assets and collection to the Honolulu Academy of Arts and in 2012, the combined museum changed its name to the Honolulu Museum of Art.


 

 
 

2015-12-24

Hofstra University Museum - Hemstead - New York - U.S.A.

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Integral to the academic mission of Hofstra University, the Hofstra University Museum advances knowledge and understanding through experiences with authentic works of art from the world’s diverse cultures. The Museum’s mission is achieved through collection acquisition and preservation, exhibitions and interpretive resources.

The Hofstra University Museum initiates and facilitates rich and varied cultural and artistic explorations in an atmosphere that promotes the open exchange of ideas.


 


2015-12-23

Holter Museum of Art - Helena - Montana - U.S.A.

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The Holter Museum of Art fuels artistic creativity and imagination in Montana through exceptional contemporary art exhibitions, collections, and educational programming.

The Holter Museum of Art serves Montana and neighboring states with a quality visual arts exhibition program that includes all media; brings national and international exhibitions into the region; provides a much-needed venue for local and regional artists; and collects, preserves, and interprets significant contemporary Northwest art. The Holter is committed to promoting participation by diverse audiences through outreach, innovative educational programming, and collaboration with other organizations. Increasing and promoting a strong cultural awareness to the broadest possible audience is a guiding factor to our operations.

The Holter Museum of Art is located in downtown Helena, Montana. The Museum opened in 1987 as the place to experience contemporary art in central Montana, and has grown dramatically. A $2,000,000 capital campaign completed in 2002 added 6,500 square feet to create a dynamic 17,000 square foot facility and added to our endowment. Offering over 25 varied exhibits each year, art education to all ages, international artist residencies, lectures, receptions and more, the Holter has become the premier cultural center for the region. Since its inception, annual revenues have grown from $74,000 to $700,000. The new facility is considered one of the finest in the state with five exhibition galleries, an Education Center, and a Collections and Research Center. The exhibition and education programs are the primary focus of the Museum's operations, with a commitment to show a wide range of mediums, content, and aesthetic sensibilities.


 
 
 

2015-12-22

Wadsworth Atheneum -Museum of Art - Hartford - Connecticut - U.S.A.

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The Wadsworth Atheneum is comprised of five connected buildings. The first was the Gothic Revival Wadsworth building of 1844, designed by the eminent architects Ithiel Town and Alexander Jackson Davis. It originally housed the art gallery, the Connecticut Historical Society, the Young Men’s Institute (which became the Hartford Public Library), and the Natural History Society. The Watkinson Library of Reference was added to the original building in the 1860s.

The Tudor Revival Colt Memorial of 1910 and the Renaissance Revival Morgan Memorial of 1910-15, designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris, provided additional space for the growing fine arts collection.

The Avery Memorial opened in 1934 and was the first American museum building with a modern International Style interior. By 1964, the institutions not affiliated with the art museum had moved to other Hartford locations.
When the Goodwin building, designed in a late modernist style, opened to the public in 1969, the entire facility was devoted to the fine arts for the first time, Daniel Wadsworth’s original intention.


 


2015-12-21

Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture - Hanford - California - U.S.A.

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In 1995, the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture, located about 45 miles south of Fresno in the town of Hanford, was founded by Elizabeth and Willard G. "Bill" Clark to "collect, conserve, study, and exhibit" the paintings, sculpture, and decorative arts of Japan. The rapidly growing collection is comprised of many distinguished works representing artistic activity in Japan from the 10th into the 21st century.

Through a significant gift of Japanese paintings from the Clarks, the Clark Center's collection was established in October of 1995. Today, around 1,400 works of art like hanging scrolls, screens, ceramics, kimono, sculptures mainly from the Kamakura period (1185-1333), and decorative art primarily from the Meiji period (1868-1912) are housed at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Among the highlights of the collection are exquisite Buddhist sculpture and painting from the Kamakura period, a wide range of paintings from the Edo period (1615-1868), and a selection of folding screens of the finest quality. Exhibitions from the collection in Minneapolis, Minnesota are hosted in Hanford twice a year.

The Clark Center is located in the great interior valley of California. Its comfortable facility and rural setting offer a modern "scholar's studio" environment for contemplation and study. As they enter the first gallery, visitors are greeted with paintings/single screens displayed in tokonoma (alcoves) with tatami (bamboo straw mats), integral elements to a traditional Japanese-style home.

A vital part of the Clark Center is the growing library of now 7,000 volumes specializing on Japanese art and a research facility for visiting scholars. Through its collection, internship program, lectures, symposia, and library resources, the Center hopes to contribute substantially to the development of scholarship in the field. Scholars are encouraged to make advance arrangements for research of the collection.


 
 
 

2015-12-18

Grand Rapids Art Museum - Grand Rapids - Michigan - U.S.A.

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The world’s first LEED® Gold certified art museum. The 125,000 square feet (11,600 m) building, which features 20,000 square feet (1,900 m) of gallery and exhibition space, has been certified LEED Gold. London-based Munkenbeck+Marshall Architects was appointed architect for the new building in 2002 and developed the design from initial concept to construction document phase. In summer 2004, the museum board terminated Munkenbeck+Marshall’s involvement and hired architect Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY Architecture to complete the project.

 
 

2015-12-17

The Westmoreland - Greensburg - Pennsylvania - U.S.A.

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The Westmoreland is a regional museum with a national presence. But it’s more than a museum. It’s a destination that presents a unique look at American life. Built to inspire and engage, it’s a place for people from all corners of the world to gather and experience American art.

The Westmoreland’s collection includes works by major artists from four centuries. It also captures the region’s rich agrarian and industrial past by placing local past within the greater context of our nation. We’re home to more than 3,400 objects of fine and decorative American art, including our newest collection of post-1950 artwork. Every work of art has a story to tell.

On the heels of a dramatic renovation, The New Westmoreland has become a true 21st century museum. We’ve increased our gallery and education spaces, enhanced our community-oriented programming, and we’ve literally raised the roof to include more traveling exhibitions.


 
 

2015-12-16

Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery - Greenville - South Carolina - U.S.A

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Through its collection of sacred art, the Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery exists to promote the appreciation, understanding, and preservation of quality fine art that reflects universal and scriptural truths based on God’s Word and works. The Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery extends its collection into communities at home and abroad through its educational and cultural outreaches that enrich the whole man—mind, heart, and soul.


 
 

2015-12-15

Bruce Museum - Greenwich - Connecticut - U.S.A

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The Bruce Museum was originally built as a private home in 1853 for lawyer, clergyman and historian Francis Lister Hawks.

Robert Moffat Bruce (1822-1909), a wealthy textile merchant and member of the New York Cotton Exchange, bought the house and property in 1858. In 1908, Robert Moffat Bruce deeded his property to the Town of Greenwich, stipulating that it be used as “a natural history, historical, and art museum for the use and benefit of the public." The first exhibition ever at the Bruce Museum took place in 1912 and featured works by local artists known as the Greenwich Society of Artists, several of whom were members of the Cos Cob Art Colony.

The Museum served as home base for the Greenwich Society of Artists hosting its Annual Exhibition from 1912 through 1926. The Cos Cob School is now well established as an important part of the history of American painting, and it forms the nucleus of the Museum's holdings of painting, watercolors, sketchbooks, and notebooks by such artists as Leonard and Mina Ochtman, George Wharton Edwards, and Hobart Jacobs.

Over the years, the community, through its generosity, has built the Museum collection to nearly 15,000 objects representing the arts and sciences. Paralleling an interest in Connecticut painters and their paintings, early directors of the Bruce Museum, such as Ray Owens, Paul Howes, and Jack Clark, pursued the development of the natural sciences, building particular strengths in the mineral and avian collections.

In 1992, the Bruce Museum undertook a complete renovation of its 139-year-old building. Reopened in September 1993, the redesigned Bruce is an architectural model of museum quality.
In 1998 the Bruce Museum received accreditation from the American Association of Museums (now the American Alliance of Museums), an honor granted to fewer than 5% of all museums.

Sitting high on a hill overlooking Greenwich Harbor, the Bruce Museum offers a changing array of
exhibitions and educational programs that promote the understanding and appreciation of art and science.


 
 

2015-12-14

Kimbell Art Museum - Fort Worth - Texas - U.S.A.

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The Kimbell Art Foundation, which owns and operates the Museum, was established in 1936 by Kay and Velma Kimbell, together with Kay’s sister and her husband, Dr. and Mrs. Coleman Carter. Early on, the Foundation collected mostly British and French portraits of the 18th and 19th centuries. By the time Mr. Kimbell died in April 1964, the collection had grown to 260 paintings and 86 other works of art, including such singular paintings as Hals’s Rommel-Pot Player, Gainsborough’s Portrait of a Woman, VigĂ©e Le Brun’s Self-Portrait, and Leighton’s Portrait of May Sartoris. Motivated by his wish “to encourage art in Fort Worth and Texas,” Mr. Kimbell left his estate to the Foundation, charging it with the creation of a museum. Mr. Kimbell had made clear his desire that the future museum be “of the first class,” and to further that aim, within a week of his death, his widow, Velma, contributed her share of the community property to the Foundation.


 
 

2015-12-11

North Dakota Museum of Art - Grand Forks - North Dakota - U.S.A.

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The North Dakota Museum of Art began in the mid-1970s as the University of North Dakota Art Galleries, a temporary exhibition space primarily for the benefit of university students. In 1981 the North Dakota State Legislature designated the University Galleries as North Dakota's official art museum. With its expanded mission came a new name: the North Dakota Museum of Art.

The first task was to find an appropriate and permanent home. A building fund, established in the late 1970s from private sources, had grown to $1 million. The staff and the Friends of the North Dakota Museum of Art, a nonprofit organization established in 1985, raised an additional $400,000. The  University of North Dakota agreed to give the Museum a 1907 gymnasium if the Friends raised the additional money needed for the renovation. In September 1989 the building, designed by Harvey Hoshour, an MIT graduate who worked for Mies van der Rohe before establishing his own firm in New Mexico, opened to great public enthusiasm. Artists participated by designing the public restrooms (neon artist Cork Marcheschi), the gift shop and the donor wall (Barton Benes), and the sculpture garden (Richard Nonas).

The North Dakota Museum of Art collects contemporary, international art in all media from the early 1970s onwards. It collects the visual history of the region. It is also assembling a survey collection of contemporary Native American art, starting with the early 1970s when the movement emerged. This does not preclude the acceptance of collections that are outside this focus if they would enrich the visual life of our audience, i.e. a historical textile collection.



 
 

2015-12-10

Maryhill Museum of Art - Goldendale - Washington - U.S.A.

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From the unique Columbia River Gorge, Maryhill Museum of Art collects, presents and preserves art and historical and natural resources, to enrich and educate residents and visitors of the Pacific Northwest.

 
 

2015-12-09

Fresno Art Museum - Fresbo - California - U.S.A.

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The Fresno Art Museum offers a dynamic experience for appreciating art. The museum welcomes, inspires, and educates a diverse regional audience through significant exhibitions, thought-provoking programs, and meaningful interactions with artists and the creative process.

In the late 1940’s, a group of local artists formed the Fresno Art League to provide a forum to exhibit and critique each other’s work and to share their enthusiasm for art. The League gathered support for their organization from the community and in 1949, the Fresno Arts Center was incorporated. In 1960, after years of planning, the Fresno Arts Center building in Radio Park was dedicated.

The Fresno Arts Center became an active venue for art exhibitions and educational programs including artist talks, workshops, and art classes for children and adults. A mission statement, goals, and objectives were developed. The Arts Center was granted accreditation by the American Association of Museums in 1973, after an extensive study of the Center’s organization, finances, staff expertise, programs, care and storage of the permanent collection, and physical facilities. It has maintained its accreditation continuously since then.

Donated and purchased works of art have increased the size and strength of the Fresno Art Museum's permanent collection over the years. The scope of the collection, which had once included a mummified pigeon from ancient Egypt as well as the work of local artists, was refined over time. It currently has a focus on modern and contemporary works by American artists (painting, sculpture, prints, photographs, and other media). Pre-Columbian works from Mesoamerica and the Andes comprise a significant part of the collection, as do both modern works and folk art of Mexican origin.

In recognition of the growing extent of the permanent collection, the Board of Trustees in 1985 changed the Center’s name to the Fresno Arts Center and Museum. The name was changed to the Fresno Art Museum in 1988, following a suggestion from the American Association of Museums that was made during the reaccreditation process.

The Museum’s exhibitions have included a wide range of visual arts media (painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, and fine crafts such as fiber arts, ceramics, jewelry, glass) by local as well as nationally and internationally known artists. While the Museum is best known for showing modern and contemporary art, exhibitions that reflect the visual arts traditions of the ethnic groups that contribute to the rich diversity of the Central Valley have been part of the exhibition schedule from the early years. Cultural and issue-related exhibitions in a variety of artistic media have been given increased prominence in recent years.


 
 

2015-12-08

Modern Art Museum - Fort Worth - Texas - U.S.A.

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The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is dedicated to collecting, presenting, and interpreting international developments in post–World War II art in all media and creating a welcoming environment for its public appreciation. The Modern promotes understanding and interest in art and artists through curatorial research and publications, and a variety of educational programs, including lectures, guided tours, classes, and workshops.

The collection of the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is comprised of nearly 3,000 objects, including paintings, sculptures, videos, photographs, and prints.  The majority of works in the collection are dated between 1945 and the present.  All major, international movements are represented, including Abstract Expressionism; British, German, French, and American Pop; Color Field Painting; Minimalism; Conceptualism; Post-Minimalism; New Image Painting, and Neo-Expressionism.  Pop and Minimalism are particularly strong, as is German art of the 1970s and 1980s.


 
 

2015-12-07

Amon Carter Museum of American Art - Fort Worth - Texas - U.S.A

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Now in its sixth decade of operation, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art offers a diverse array of exhibitions, publications, and programs that connect visitors to masterworks of American art. On this page you will find extensive information chronicling the many achievements of the museum in the areas of publishing and exhibitions, as well as a timeline with museum highlights from all aspects of operations.

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art was established through the generosity of Amon G. Carter Sr. (1879–1955) to house his collection of paintings and sculpture by Frederic Remington and Charles M. Russell; to collect, preserve, and exhibit the finest examples of American art; and to serve an educational role through exhibitions, publications, and programs devoted to the study of American art.


 
 

2015-12-04

NSU Art Museum - Fort Lauderdale-Florida - U.S.A

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The mission of NSU Art Museum is to provide exceptional opportunities to access, learn from and be inspired by the highest level of visual artistic expression throughout time and from around the world, and to engage a wide audience by offering diverse and innovative exhibitions, dynamic education and public programs, and by developing an exceptional collection, and fostering original research and intellectual inquiry.

Founded in 1958, NSU Art Museum is a premier destination for exhibitions and programs encompassing all facets of civilization’s visual history.
The Museum is located midway between Miami and Palm Beach in the heart of downtown Fort Lauderdale, one of the fastest growing areas in the U.S. Its distinctive modernist building, which opened in 1986 was designed by the renowned architect Edward Larrabee Barnes and is a dynamic cultural hub in Fort Lauderdale’s Arts and Entertainment District. The Museum is a short walk to the shops, restaurants and galleries of vibrant Las Olas Boulevard as well as to the picturesque Riverwalk waterfront promenade.
NSU Art Museum’s 83,000 square-foot building contains 25,000 square feet of exhibition space, a 256-seat auditorium, Museum Store and Cafe. Art classes for adults, children and teens are offered throughout the year.

The Museum’s international exhibition program, which aims to challenge viewers’ perceptions of the world around them, is overseen by its visionary Director and Chief Curator Bonnie Clearwater, who joined the Museum in 2013.
NSU Art Museum’s celebrated permanent collection contains more than 6,000 works. Among its highlights is the country’s largest collection of 19th and early 20th century paintings and drawings by the American realist William Glackens, the most extensive holding in the U.S. of works by post-World War II, avant-garde CoBrA artists from Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam, and extensive holdings of works by leading Latin American artists.
In 2008, the Museum became part of Nova Southeastern University, one of the largest private research universities in the United States.

 
 
 

2015-12-03

Colorado State University Art Museum - Collins-Colorado - U.S.A

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Colorado State University Art Museum invites individuals to engage with art and each other to inspire fresh perspectives and wonder. The museum is a catalyst for visual literacy and critical thinking that instills a passion for learning.


 
 

2015-12-02

Fitchburg Art Museum - Fitchburg-Massachusetts - U.S.A.

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Eleanor collected textiles, dishes, and furniture while living aboard, with the dream of creating an art center in Fitchburg. Her large painting, My Studio, gives us clues to the decorative objects she loved.
 
Eleanor continued to live in Paris for almost forty years, returning to Fitchburg often in the summers. She died in Fitchburg in 1923.
 
Although she did not live to see her dream of opening an art center fulfilled, her bequest of her collections and funds made it possible to open the Fitchburg Art Center in 1929 - “for the joy and inspiration of art.” In 1951 The Fitchburg Art Center became the Fitchburg Art Museum, where Eleanor’s legacy lives on. 
 
 

 
 

 

2015-12-01

Plains Art Museum - Fargo-North Dakota - U.S.A.

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Plains Art Museum connects art, artists, and audiences to foster creative, resilient, and welcoming communities.

We envision communities where people are engaged in the creative process, and value and support the contribution of art and artists.