The Timken Museum of Art is a

fine art In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwor ...

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...

, established in 1965 and located at 1500 El Prado in Balboa Park in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, close to the San Diego Museum of Art.

History

The groundwork for the museum was laid in 1951 when Walter Ames helped sisters Amy and Anne Putnam (nieces and heirs of Henry W. Putnam) to form the nonprofit Putnam Foundation to own and manage their art collection. The sisters had settled in San Diego in the early 20th century and made donations to the San Diego Museum of Art in its early years. At first the Foundation loaned items from its collection to noteworthy museums across the United States. When the Timken Museum opened in 1965, the Putnam Foundation Collection provided its initial material and Walter Ames became its first director. The museum building stands on the site of the former Home Economy Building, originally designed for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition and later known as the Pan-Pacific Building, the Cafe of the World, and the American Legion Building. That building was torn down in 1963 and replaced by the Timken Museum, which was designed by the architectural firm of Frank L. Hope and Associates and funded by the Timken family. The museum is a white, modern building in marble and bronze housing a five-room gallery. Shortly after the museum opened, John Walker, of the National Gallery of Art, praised its collection, some of which had been on loan at his institution until the Timken neared completion:

Overview

The museum displays European old master paintings,

sculptures Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, and tapestries under natural light. Supplementing the European holdings are collections of American painting and Russian icons. Acquisitions have expanded the collection from the original 40 to 60 major works, including ones by American ( Copley,

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, Cole,

Bierstadt Bierstadt is a borough of the city of Wiesbaden, capital of the state of Hesse, Germany. It is located in the eastern part of the city, directly east of downtown Wiesbaden, and has about 12,300 inhabitants. Formerly an independent municipality ...

), Italian (

Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is noted for his subtle use ...

, Veronese, Guercino and Savoldo's '' The Temptation of Saint Anthony''), Spanish ( Murillo), and French masters ( Clouet, Claude, Boucher, Fragonard,

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, Corot), as well as works of the Flemish and Dutch schools, including masterpieces by

Pieter Brueghel the Elder Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder (, ; ; – 9 September 1569) was the most significant artist of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaker, known for his landscapes and peasant scenes (so-called ge ...

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradit ...

Anthony van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (, many variant spellings; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Brabantian Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Southern Netherlands and Italy. The seventh ...

, and

Frans Hals Frans Hals the Elder (, , ; – 26 August 1666) was a Dutch Golden Age painter, chiefly of individual and group portraits and of genre works, who lived and worked in Haarlem. Hals played an important role in the evolution of 17th-century grou ...

. In 2015, in honor of the Museum's 50th anniversary, the Timken acquired a Zurbarán 3/4 portrait of St. Francis in meditation. The Timken is the only San Diego museum with a

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally cons ...

in its permanent collection. The museum's founding benefactors, the Putnam sisters, were related to two Revolutionary War generals, Israel Putnam and Rufus Putnam. Coincidentally, one of the museum's most important acquisitions in recent decades is the John Singleton Copley painting of the woman who may well have triggered the Revolutionary War,

Margaret Kemble Gage Margaret Kemble Gage (1734–1824) was the wife of General Thomas Gage, who led the British Army in Massachusetts in the American Revolutionary War. She was born in New Brunswick, Province of New Jersey and resided in East Brunswick Township. S ...

Selected works

Pieter Bruegel the Elder - Landscape with the Parable of the Sower - WGA03340.jpg, '' Parable of the Sower'' by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1557 Guercino Ritorno figliol prodigo.jpg, ''The Return of the Prodigal Son'' by Guercino, 1654-1655 A Girl Receiving a Letter by Gabriel Metsu, Timken Museum of Art.JPG, ''A Girl Receiving a Letter'' by Gabriel Metsu, ca. 1658 Jacob van Ruisdael - Vista de Haarlem com branquearia, c. 1665-70.jpg, Jacob van Ruisdael, ''A View of Haarlem and Bleaching Fields'', ca. 1665-1670 Nicolas de Largillière - Retrato de Marguerite de Sève.jpg, Portrait of Marguerite de Sève, Wife of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil by

Nicolas de Largillière Nicolas de Largillière (; 10 October 1656 – 20 March 1746) was a French portrait painter, born in Paris. Biography Early life Largillière's father, a merchant, took him to Antwerp at the age of three. As a boy, he spent nearly two years i ...

, 1729 Nicolas de Largillière - Retrato de Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil.jpg, Portrait of Barthélemy-Jean-Claude Pupil by Nicolas de Largillière, 1729 Albert Bierstadt - Cho-looke, the Yosemite Fall.jpg, ''Cho-looke, the Yosemite Fall'' by Albert Bierstadt'', 1864 Jonathan eastman johnson cranberry harvest.jpg, '' The Cranberry Harvest, Island of Nantucket'', by Eastman Johnson, 1880

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1965 establishments in California Art museums established in 1965 Art museums and galleries in California Balboa Park (San Diego) Former private collections in the United States Museums in San Diego