The Akron Art Museum 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. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...

Akron Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, United States. The museum first opened on February 1, 1922, as the Akron Art Institute. It was located in two borrowed rooms in the basement of the public library. The Institute offered classes in arts appreciation which were organized by Edwin Coupland Shaw and his wife Jennifer Bond Shaw. Its first permanent home was the Akron Public Library, a Carnegie library building, from 1948 to 1981. It has grown considerably since 1922. The new museum was open to the public on July 17, 2007, and hosts visiting shows from national and international collections.

Collections

The Akron Art Museum features of gallery space dedicated to the display of its collection of art produced since 1850. The museum also hosts visiting shows from national and international collections. 1850–1950 Western art created between 1850 and 1950 graces the first floor of the museum's 1899

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the trans ...

revival style Revivalism in architecture is the use of visual styles that consciously echo the style of a previous architectural era. Notable revival styles include Neoclassical architecture (a revival of Classical architecture), and Gothic Revival (a reviva ...

building. The first two rooms feature examples of turn-of-the-century realism and American

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. Two rooms explore

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

and regionalism in northeast Ohio from 1910 through 1950. A final room is dedicated entirely to the work of William Sommer, a northeast Ohio artist. These galleries include paintings by Thomas Wilmer Dewing and

Frederick Carl Frieseke Frederick Carl Frieseke (April 7, 1874 – August 24, 1939) was an American Impressionist painter who spent most of his life as an expatriate in France. An influential member of the Giverny art colony, his paintings often concentrated on various ...

. 1950 to Now Art since 1950 is featured in eight rooms located in the museum's 2007 Knight building. These galleries reflect the eclectic style of late twentieth-century art through examples of postmodern painting and sculpture, photorealism and Pop Art. On view are

Chuck Close Charles Thomas Close (July 5, 1940 – August 19, 2021) was an American painter, visual artist, and photographer who made massive-scale photorealist and abstract portraits of himself and others. Close also created photo portraits using a very l ...

’s ''Linda'', an oversize early painting;

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the Art movement, visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore th ...

’s silk-screened ''Single Elvis'' and ''Brillo Boxes''; and Ohio carver and preacher

Elijah Pierce Elijah Pierce (1892-1984) was a 20th-century wood carver. Pierce was the youngest in his family born from a former slave on a farm in Baldwyn, Mississippi on March 5, 1892. He began carving at a young age using a pocket knife. He first started ...

’s animated relief sculpture ''The Wise and Foolish Virgins and Four Other Scenes''.

Temporary exhibitions

Major temporary exhibitions are housed on the second floor of the Knight Building. These exhibitions include traveling shows, such as ''American Chronicles: The Art of

Norman Rockwell Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) was an American painter and illustrator. His works have a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of Culture of the United States, the country's culture. Roc ...

'', and shows organized by the museum, such as ''A Shared Vision: The Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell Photography Collection''. The museum also features more than used for intimate exhibitions of emerging or mid-career artists, community-based art projects and changing exhibitions of photographic media.

Knight Building

The John S. and James L. Knight Building was designed by the Viennese architectural firm

Coop Himmelb(l)au Coop Himmelb(l)au (A pun meaning ''Coop Sky Building'' and ''Coop Sky Blue'') is an architecture, urban planning, design, and art firm founded by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky, and Michael Holzer in Vienna, Austria in 1968. History Coop Him ...

following an international competition. The firm was chosen in part for its adaptive use of historic buildings, and the Knight Building is the firm’s first project in the Americas. Ground breaking for the new building was held on May 22, 2004.

’s design integrates additional gallery space, an auditorium and café with the museum’s 1899 building utilizing contrasting, surprising and fanciful visual elements: The “Crystal”, a three-story glass lobby that serves as the public entry and as the focal visual space connecting the museum's artistic, educational, administrative, and public programming; the “Gallery Box”, comprising the Arnstein, Haslinger, Bidwell and Isroff Galleries, accommodates the museum's collection and temporary exhibitions; and the “Roof Cloud”, a -long cantilevered steel and aluminum armature extends over the old and the new, creating a striking landmark for Akron's downtown which a critic once described as "a mechanical alligator snarfing down a Beaux Arts post office." The expansion dramatically increased the museum's ability to present traveling exhibitions and to organize its own distinctive exhibitions. The expansion also allows for the display of major, rarely seen works, including Elliot Torrey’s ''Surf'', the first work to enter the Akron Art Institute’s collection in 1923.Tannenbaum, B., Kahan, M., & Grove, J. (2001). ''Akron Art Museum: Art since 1850''. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. “The design embraces the past, rather than replacing or destroying it”, said

founder, and principal architect for the project, Wolf D. Prix. “It uses architecture to create a public space within the city and a private space within our own souls-reinventing both the city and ourselves at the same time. With such a project, there is a great opportunity to make a living contribution to a city.”

References

External links

* {{authority control Art museums and galleries in Ohio Museums in Akron, Ohio Coop Himmelblau Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Cultural infrastructure completed in 1899 Cultural infrastructure completed in 2007 Art museums established in 1922 1922 establishments in Ohio