The Spencer Museum of Art is an

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

operated by the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

. Accredited by the

American Alliance of Museums American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, the Spencer Museum seeks to "...present its collection as a living archive that motivates object-centered research and teaching, creative work, and transformative public dialogue."

History

In 1917, the

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

art collector Sallie Casey Thayer donated her collection of over seven thousand works of art, primarily from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

to the

to form a museum in order to encourage the study of fine arts in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. In 1928, the school established the University of Kansas Museum of Art, with Thayer's collection as the basis, within

Spooner Hall Spooner Hall was built in 1893-94 as the University of Kansas' first library building. The Richardsonian Romanesque structure was designed by architect Henry Van Brunt and built with funds bequeathed by William B. Spooner, a Massachusetts leather ...

. By the 1960s, under the directorship of

Marilyn Stokstad Marilyn Jane Stokstad (February 16, 1929 – March 4, 2016) was an American art historian, educator, and curator. A scholar of medieval and Spanish art, Stokstad was Judith Harris Murphy Distinguished Professor of Art History Emeritus at the Uni ...

, the Museum of Art outgrew the space. In 1978, Helen Foresman Spencer, another female Kansas City collector, made a substantial gift to fund the construction of a new space, under the directorship of

Charles C. Eldredge Charles "Charlie" Child Eldredge (born April 12, 1944 in Boston) is an American art historian, educator, and curator. Eldredge is the Hall Distinguished Professor of American Art and Culture Emeritus at the University of Kansas. He also served a ...

. The new building was designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and Class of 1926 alum Robert E. Jenks in the Neoclassical style from

Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

. The museum was renamed in honor of Helen to the Spencer Museum of Art. From 1976 to 1983,

Elizabeth Broun Elizabeth "Betsy" Broun (born December 15, 1946 in Kansas City) is an American art historian and curator. Broun served as the Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum from 1989 to 2016, and is the longest-servin ...

served as Curator of Prints and Drawings, as well as a stint as Acting Director from 1982 to 1983, succeeding Eldredge. Since then, the museum has only been led by three individuals: Jay Gates, Andrea Norris, and Saralyn Reece Hardy. In 2007, the Spencer Museum of Art grew when over nine thousand objects from the former University of Kansas Museum of Anthropology were transferred to its possession. The collection included a wide variety of global cultural materials, with emphasis on Native American materials. In 2016, the Spencer Museum of Art completed the first phase of a major renovation project, led by the architectural firm

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an American architecture, architectural firm based in New York City, founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei and other associates.

. In addition to transforming over 30,000 square feet of the space, the Stephen H. Goddard Study Center and the Jack and Lavon Brosseau Center for Learning were both added. In that same year, the museum received a grant totaling over $450,000 from the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

to support interdisciplinary research. Three years later, an additional $650,000 was awarded.

Collection

The Spencer Museum of Art houses over 47,000 objects in a variety of media. In particular, the collection broadly covers

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and

European art The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of art, history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock art, rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the ...

from ancient to contemporary times, as well as

Asian art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia. Central Asian art primarily c ...

from various periods. Areas of particular strength include: American and European

paintings Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

Japanese art Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...

from the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, and

medieval art The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art in Europe, and at certain periods in Western Asia and Northern Africa. It includes major art movements and periods, national and regional art, gen ...

Directors

(1961–1968) *

(1971–1982) *

(1982–1983) * Jay Gates (1983–1987) * Andrea Norris (1988–2004) * Saralyn Reece Hardy (2005–present)

Gallery

File:Albert Bierstadt - Sunset on the Plains.jpg,

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was no ...

, ''Sunset on the Plains'', c. 1887 File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - A Chat by the Fireside.jpg,

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...

, ''A Chat by the Fireside'', 1881 File:Winslow Homer - West India Divers.jpg,

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

, ''West India Divers'', 1899 File:George Inness - Gossip.jpg,

George Inness George Inness (May 1, 1825 – August 3, 1894) was a prominent American landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced by the Hudson River School at the s ...

, ''Gossip'', 1884 File:Édouard Manet - Little Girl in an Armchair.jpg,

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Born ...

, ''Little Girl in an Armchair'', 1878 File:Theodoor Rombouts - The two musicians.jpeg,

Theodoor Rombouts Theodoor Rombouts (2 July 1597 – 14 September 1637) was a Flemish painter who is mainly known for his Caravaggesque genre scenes depicting lively dramatic gatherings as well as religiously-themed works.Hans Vlieghe. "Rombouts, Theodoor." Gr ...

, ''The Musicians'', c. 1620 File:Rossetti - Pia de Tolomei.JPG,

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

, ''

Pia de' Tolomei Pia de' Tolomei was an Italian noblewoman from Siena identified as "la Pia," a minor character in Dante's ''Divine Comedy'' who was murdered by her husband. Her brief presence in the poem has inspired many works in art, music, literature, and cin ...

'', c. 1875 File:Dirck Dircksz. Santvoort - Portrait of a Man.jpg,

Dirck van Santvoort Dirck Dircksz van Santvoort (bapt. 16 December 1609 – bur. 9 March 1680) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. Biography Santvoort was born and died in Amsterdam, where he married in 1648 and had a son named Rembrandt.John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

, ''Ariana Curtis'', 1882 File:Gillis van Tilborgh - A Picture Gallery.jpg, Gillis van Tilborgh, ''A Picture Gallery'', c. 1665

References

External links

Official websiteVirtual tour of the Spencer Museum of Art
provided by Google Arts & Culture * {{Authority control 1928 establishments in Kansas Art museums established in 1928 Art museums and galleries in Kansas Museums in Douglas County, Kansas Tourist attractions in Lawrence, Kansas University museums in Kansas University of Kansas campus Lawrence, Kansas