Williams College Museum of Art

Last updated
Williams College Museum of Art
Williams College Museum of Art Exterior.jpg
The Williams College Museum of Art
Williams College Museum of Art
Established1926
Location76 Spring St., Williamstown, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°42′40.27″N73°12′9.69″W / 42.7111861°N 73.2026917°W / 42.7111861; -73.2026917
TypeArt museum
AccreditationAmerican Alliance of Museums, 1993, 2004, 2020
CollectionsContemporary art, photography, prints, Indian painting
Collection size15,000
FounderKarl Weston
DirectorPamela Franks
Website artmuseum.williams.edu

The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) is a college-affiliated art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is located on the Williams College campus, close to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) and the Clark Art Institute. Its growing collection encompasses more than 14,000 works, [1] with particular strengths in contemporary art, photography, prints, and Indian painting. The museum is free and open to the public.

Contents

History

Lawrence Hall, soon to house Williams College Museum of Art, before the addition of the two wings designed by Francis R. Allen in 1890 Lawrence Hall in 1890.jpg
Lawrence Hall, soon to house Williams College Museum of Art, before the addition of the two wings designed by Francis R. Allen in 1890

WCMA was established in 1926 by Karl Weston, an art history professor who made it his mission to provide students with a place to experience art directly, rather than as slides or in textbooks. The college's art collection, in large part donated by Eliza Peters Field in 1897, had been housed in two small wings of what was then the college library, Lawrence Hall, designed by Thomas A. Tefft in 1846. When the library was moved to Stetson Hall in 1920, Weston transformed the octagonal brick building into an art museum, adding a T-shaped wing in order to provide additional space for galleries and the college's rapidly expanding art history curriculum.

Over the next half-century, under a series of directors, the college enlarged the art department and the museum's collection. In 1981, Director Franklin W. Robinson hired Charles Moore to redesign the building in order to raise facilities to professional standards and double exhibition space. This coincided with an expansion of WCMA's staff, educational programs, and exhibition schedule.

Accredited by the American Alliance of Museums in 1993, and re-accredited in 2004, the museum has been the site of dozens of exhibitions (see Past Exhibitions, below). In 2012, Williams College hired director Christina Olsen, who served through August 2017, before leaving to become the director of the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA). In May 2018, the college named Pamela Franks, Senior Deputy Director and Seymour H. Knox Jr., Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Yale University Art Gallery to be WCMA's new Class of 1956 Director.

In the summer of 2019, WCMA temporarily closed its doors for a series of renovations. While the museum was closed, WCMA exhibited 40 works of art from its Williams Art Loan for Living Spaces (WALLS) collection in a gallery space called Summer Space at 76 Spring St.

Collection

Maurice Prendergast, Figures Under the Flag (1900-1905) Prendergast Maurice Figures Under the Flag 1900-05.jpg
Maurice Prendergast, Figures Under the Flag (1900–1905)

Made up of 15,000 individual works, the collection has particular strengths in ancient Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greco-Roman objects, Indian Painting, African Sculpture, American photography, American art, and international modern and contemporary art. The museum is also home to the world's largest assembly of works by the artist brothers Maurice Prendergast and Charles Prendergast. These works were donated in 1983 by Charles's widow Eugenie Prendergast. They were the basis for WCMA's Prendergast Archive and Study Center, which is maintained as a center for scholarship on the brothers and their contemporaries.[ citation needed ]

Marking its 75th anniversary in 2001, the museum installed Eyes (Nine Elements) by Louise Bourgeois. This outdoor sculpture has since become a symbol of the museum's dedication to contemporary art, as well as an iconic part of the Williams campus.[ citation needed ]

Notable artworks

Fulkerson Fund for Leadership in the Arts

Established[ when? ] by Allan W. Fulkerson '54, the Fund is now in its fifth year and continues to support a variety of student-centered projects at WCMA. Central components include:[ citation needed ]

Monuments Men

American military men removing the van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece from the Altaussee salt mine [de], 1945 Ghent altarpiece at Altaussee.jpg
American military men removing the van Eyck's Ghent Altarpiece from the Altaussee salt mine  [ de ], 1945

During World War 2, a group of nearly 350 servicemen and women was established to recover and protect artwork from areas affected by the conflict. This organization was known as the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program (MFAA), or more colloquially, the Monuments Men. Among the ranks of this enterprise were Williams graduates Charles Parkhurst '35 and Lane Faison '29, who both returned to WCMA to serve as museum directors after the war. In February 2014, Sony Pictures released The Monuments Men , a feature film directed by George Clooney that has revived interest in these lesser-known heroes of the war. On March 7, 2014, WCMA celebrated its own two Monuments Men by inviting Faison's sons and Parkhurst's widow to speak at the museum.[ citation needed ]

Williams Art Mafia

This informal group studied under the trio of Lane Faison, Bill Pierson and Whitney Stoddard, and became collectively known as the Williams Art Mafia. Its members include: [2]

Major past exhibitions

Asco: Elite of the Obscure, A Retrospective, 1972-1987 Asco exhibit at WCMA, 2012.jpg
Asco: Elite of the Obscure, A Retrospective, 1972–1987

List of directors (1926–present)

DirectorFromTo
Karl E. Weston 19261948
S. Lane Faison 19481976
Whitney Stoddard 19601961
Franklin W. Robinson19761979
Milo C. Beach 19791979
John W. Coffey II19791980
Thomas Krens 19801988
Charles Parkhurst 19831984
W. Rod Faulds19881989
Linda B. Shearer19892004
Marion M. Goethals20042005
Lisa Corrin20052011
Katy Kline20112012
Christina Olsen20122017
Lisa Dorin20172018
Pamela Franks 2018present

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zhang Dali</span> Chinese graffiti artist

Zhang Dali is an artist based in Beijing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carnegie Museum of Art</span> Art museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The Carnegie Museum of Art is an art museum in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The museum was originally known as the Department of Fine Arts, Carnegie Institute and was formerly located at what is now the Main Branch of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The museum's first gallery was opened for public use on November 5, 1895. Over the years, the gallery vastly increased in size, with a new building on Forbes Avenue built in 1907. In 1963, the name was officially changed to Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute. The size of the gallery has tripled over time, and it was officially renamed in 1986 to "Carnegie Museum of Art" to indicate it clearly as one of the four Carnegie Museums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clark Art Institute</span> Art museum and research institute in US

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European and American paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts from the fourteenth to the early twentieth century. The Clark, along with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art and the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA), forms a trio of art museums in the Berkshires. The institute also serves as a center for research and higher learning. It is home to various research and academic programs, which include the Fellowship Program and the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art, as well as one of the most distinguished research libraries in the country, with more than 295,000 volumes in over 72 languages. The Clark is visited by 200,000 people a year, and offers many educational programs for visitors of all ages throughout the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Fine Arts (Budapest)</span> Art museum in Budapest, Hungary

The Museum of Fine Arts is a museum in Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary, facing the Palace of Art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Hannock</span> American painter (born 1951)

Stephen W. Hannock is an American painter known for his atmospheric landscapes––compositions of flooded rivers, nocturnes and large vistas––which often incorporate text inscriptions that relate to family, friends or events of daily life. The artist is known for creating a unique luminosity using a signature technique that involves building up layers of paint on the canvas, sandpaper-polishing it, applying new layers of paint and polishing again. Some of his work is thought to be inspired by the Hudson River School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Birmingham Museum of Art</span> Municipal art museum in Alabama, US

The Birmingham Museum of Art is a museum in Birmingham, Alabama. Its collection includes more than 24,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and decorative arts representing various cultures, including Asian, European, American, African, Pre-Columbian, and Native American. The museum is also home to some Renaissance and Baroque paintings, sculptures,and decorative arts from the late 13th century to c. 1750.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art</span> Art Museum in Gainesville, Florida

The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art is an art museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is in the UF Cultural Plaza area in the southwest part of campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University</span> Art museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey

The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum is located on the Voorhees Mall of the campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The museum houses more than 60,000 works, including Russian and Soviet Nonconformist Art from the acclaimed Dodge Collection, American art from the eighteenth century to the present, and six centuries of European art with a particular focus on nineteenth-century French art. The museum also is noted for its holdings of works on paper, including prints, drawings, photographs, original illustrations for children's books, and rare books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Fine Arts, Houston</span> Art museum, institute, library, sculpture park in Houston, TX United States

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building in 2020, it is the 12th largest art museum in the world based on square feet of gallery space. The permanent collection of the museum spans more than 5,000 years of history with nearly 80,000 works from six continents. In 2023, the museum received over 900,000 visitors, making it the 20th most-visited museum in the United States.

Thomas Tulis is an American photographer and painter living and working in Atlanta, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hungarian National Gallery</span> National art museum in Hungary

The Hungarian National Gallery, was established in 1957 as the national art museum. It is located in Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. Its collections cover Hungarian art in all genres, including the works of many nineteenth- and twentieth-century Hungarian artists who worked in Paris and other locations in the West. The primary museum for international art in Budapest is the Museum of Fine Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhode Island School of Design Museum</span> Art & design museum in Rhode Island

The Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design is an art museum integrated with the Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island, US. The museum was co-founded with the school in 1877. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the United States, and has seven curatorial departments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Percy Parkhurst</span>

Charles Percy Parkhurst was an American museum curator best known for his work on the Roberts Commission, tracking down art looted during World War II.

The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art is a visual arts institution that is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

Nancy Mowll Mathews is a Czech-American art historian, curator and author. She was the Eugénie Prendergast Senior Curator of 19th and 20th Century Art at the Williams College Museum of Art from 1988 to 2010. She is currently an independent scholar, curator, professor and host of the television show Art World with Nancy Mathews.

Patssi Valdez is an American Chicana artist. She is a founding member of the art collective Asco. Valdez's work represents some of the finest Chicana avant-garde expressionism, working with an array of mediums, such as painting, sculpture, and fashion design. She lives and works in Los Angeles, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Utah Museum of Contemporary Art</span> Art museum in Salt Lake City US, opened 1931

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA), formerly known as the Salt Lake Art Center, is a contemporary art museum located in downtown Salt Lake City. The museum presents rotating exhibitions by local, national, and international contemporary artists throughout its six gallery spaces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smith College Museum of Art</span> Art museum in Northampton, Massachusetts

The Smith College Museum of Art, abbreviated SCMA, is the art museum of Smith College, located in Northampton, Massachusetts. First established in 1870, the museum is part of the American Alliance of Museums, Five College Consortium, and Museums10 consortiums.

Deborah Bright is a 20th-century American photographer and artist, writer, and educator. She is particularly noted for her imagery and scholarship on queer desire and politics, as well as on the ideologies of American landscape photography. Her work is in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Fogg Art Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Bright's photographic projects have been exhibited internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of Fine Arts of São Paulo</span> University museum located in São Paulo, Brasil

The Museum of Fine Arts of São Paulo (MuBA) is a university museum located in the neighborhood of Vila Mariana, in the city of São Paulo, Brasil. It opened on September 23, 2007 and was officially registered on April 14, 2008. The museum is connected to the Fine Arts University Center of São Paulo, a private institution of higher learning, and is sustained through the School of Fine Arts Foundation of São Paulo (FEBASP).

References

  1. "Williams College Museum of Art Collection - Artstor". www.artstor.org.
  2. Kinzer, Stephen (2004-03-31). "LEGACY; One College's Long Shadow: Looking Back at the 'Williams Mafia'". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  3. "Alex Donis Exhibitions".

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Williams College Museum of Art at Wikimedia Commons