Utah Museum of Fine Arts

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The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA)
Utah Museum of Fine Arts.jpeg
UMFA in 2008
Utah Museum of Fine Arts
EstablishedMay 6, 1951 (1951-05-06)
Location University of Utah
Marcia & John Price Museum Building
410 Campus Center Drive
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112
Coordinates 40°45′37″N111°50′36″W / 40.7602°N 111.8432°W / 40.7602; -111.8432
Type Art museum
Accreditation American Alliance of Museums
DirectorGretchen Dietrich
Architect Machado Silvetti and Prescott Muir Architects
Public transit access Red Line (TRAX)
University South Campus station
Website umfa.utah.edu

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is a state and university art museum located in downtown Salt Lake City on the University of Utah campus. Housed in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building near Rice-Eccles Stadium, the museum holds a permanent collection of nearly 20,000 art objects. Works of art are displayed on a rotating basis.

Contents

Overview

UMFA is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. [1] It has a cafe and store located inside the building along with more than 20 galleries. The museums permanent art collections include nearly 20,000 works of art. [2] The different cultures represented include African, Oceanic and the New World, Asian, European, American, and the Ancient and Classical World. [3]

History

The creation of a formal art gallery on the top floor of the University of Utah's Park Building in the early 1900s marks the beginning of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts. In the beginning, paintings by local artists filled this three-room gallery. Through the next six decades, the art department at the University of Utah received major art gifts and specific requests from donors to remodel the gallery into a museum. After the renovation of the gallery was finished, the University’s president, A. Ray Olpin, established it as the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on May 6, 1951. [4] In 1967, Frank Sanquineti was appointed as the first professional director. By this time, the museum had entered a new period of growth which resulted in the building of a new museum.[ citation needed ]

After the museum relocated in 1970, the Annual Friends of the Art Museum Acquisition Fund was formed to further expand its collections. Over the years this annual fund has helped support the expansion of the museum’s collections and its ability to offer art education programs. Due to donations from patrons, local and national foundations, the University community, and the citizens of the State of Utah, the UMFA’s collection now encompasses 5,200 years of artistic creativity. Since the mid-1900s, when the collection was around 800 objects, it has grown to over 13,000 art objects. This huge expansion required a larger building. Machado Silvetti and Prescott Muir Architects were chosen to design the new museum building. [5] The UMFA opened the 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) facility named for Marcia and John Price [6] on June 2, 2001. David Dee was appointed Executive Director the following year.

Since the second relocation, the UMFA experienced growth in all areas of operation. In February 2005, the Utah State Legislature declared the UMFA as an official state institution, confirming the importance of the museum’s role as a center for art, culture, and education in the state of Utah. In April 2009, David Dee resigned from the museum and Gretchen Dietrich was named Executive Director effective August 2010. [7]

Collections

As of 2017, the UMFA held a collection of nearly 20,000 art objects. [2]

Works of the European tradition from the 14th to the 19th centuries include such artists as Filippo Lippi, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Jan Brueghel the Younger, Anthony van Dyck, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Hyacinthe Rigaud, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, Thomas Gainsborough, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, and Auguste Rodin. Represented American artists include Benjamin West, Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, Albert Bierstadt, Edmonia Lewis, and John Singer Sargent. Modern and contemporary holdings include Helen Frankenthaler, Yayoi Kusama, Nancy Holt, and Robert Smithson. The museum's non-Western collections have particular strength in works from India, Polynesia, and Mesoamerica. [8]

Restitution of art stolen in the Holocaust

In August 2004, the museum learned that an oil painting that had been stolen during The Holocaust had found its way into the museum's collection by donation in 1993. The museum returned the art to the heirs of its original owner. [9] [10] [11] The piece was the 18th-century Les Amoureaux Jeunes by François Boucher. [9] It had been stolen by Nazi Hermann Göring from the collection of French Jewish art gallery owner Andre Jean Seligmann during the Nazi occupation of France. [9] [10] [12] [13] Suzanne Seligmann Robbins, Andre Seligmann's daughter-in-law, said: "Honor this museum and the people in it and the University of Utah for what they have done with such honor, with such diligence, with such integrity." [14]

Events and programs

The Utah Museum of Fine Arts offers family, adult and children's programs along with tours for visitors. Activities include self-guided visits of the galleries, hands-on art projects, films, lectures, and informative guided tours. Family programs offer studio art activities on the third Saturday of each month. Adult programs include painting classes, lectures, and fine arts film series. Children's programs include special summer classes where children may combine history with art making. There are also classes for parents and their children from ages 2–5 to learn how to paint and sculpt. [15]

Past exhibitions

UMFA in 2016 Museum of Fine Arts.jpg
UMFA in 2016

Exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts generally change on a two to three month basis. Some examples of past exhibitions since 2007 include:

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "The Utah Museum of Fine Arts: Mission Statement and Core Values". University of Utah. Archived from the original on 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  2. 1 2 Means, Sean P. (August 19, 2017). "How a building fix led Utah Museum of Fine Arts curators to 'reimagine' how the public connects with art". The Salt Lake Tribune.
  3. ↑ "Highlights of the Collection". University of Utah. Archived from the original on September 12, 2008. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  4. ↑ "Museum History". University of Utah. Archived from the original on 2009-08-30. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  5. ↑ "About the UMFA | The Utah Museum of Fine Arts". umfa.utah.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-30.
  6. ↑ "COE Receives Major Gift, New Name". The University of Utah. 2023-01-11. Retrieved 2023-03-31.
  7. ↑ "Gretchen Dietrich Named Executive Director of the Utah Museum of Fine Arts". artdaily.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  8. ↑ "The UMFA Collection". umfa.utah.edu. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  9. 1 2 3 Review of the repatriation of Holocaust art assets in the United States : hearing. DIANE Publishing. pp. 71–. ISBN   978-1-4223-2359-5.
  10. 1 2 Paul H. B. Shin (April 2, 2004). "Art looted by Nazis returned to N.Y. heir". Nydailynews.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ Marilyn Henry (January 25, 2010). "The art of war - Magazine - Jerusalem Post". Jpost.com. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Stolen painting goes under hammer". BBC. June 17, 2004. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  13. ↑ Dave Gagon (February 26, 2004). "Utah art found to be Nazi loot". Deseretnews.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2015. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  14. ↑ Carole Mikita (April 1, 2004). "Nazi-Stolen Painting Returned to Owner's Heirs". Https. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Children's Programs". University of Utah. Archived from the original on June 9, 2010. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  16. ↑ Mortensen, Parker Scott (2019-08-01). "Two for All – Power Couples: The Pendant Format in Art". SLUG Magazine. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  17. ↑ "Utah curator wins national award for excellence". Deseret News. 2018-05-08. Retrieved 2021-10-14.
  18. ↑ "Past Exhibitions". University of Utah . Retrieved 2010-02-11.
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