The Worcester Art Museum, also known by its

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

WAM, houses over 38,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day and representing cultures from all over the world. WAM opened in 1898 in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, and ranks among the more important art museums of its kind in the nation. Its holdings include some of the finest Roman mosaics in the United States, outstanding European and American art, and a major collection of Japanese prints. Since acquiring the John Woodman Higgins Armory Collection in 2013, WAM is also home to the second largest collection of arms and armor in the Americas. In many areas, it was at the forefront in the US, notably as it collected architecture (the Chapter House, 1932), acquired paintings by Monet (1910) and Gauguin (1921), presented photography as an art form (1904). The Worcester Art Museum also has a conservation lab and year-round studio art program for adults and youth.

History

In September 1896, Stephen Salisbury III and a group of his friends founded the Art Museum Corporation to build an art institution "for the benefit of all." Salisbury then gave a tract of land, on what was once the Salisbury farm (now fronting Salisbury Street in Worcester, Massachusetts), as well as $100,000

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

to construct a building designed by Worcester architect Stephen C. Earle. The museum formally opened in 1898 with the Rev.

Daniel Merriman Daniel Merriman (December 3, 1838 – September 18, 1912) was an American Congregational minister and art collector. With his wife, Helen Bigelow Merriman, he was a cofounder of the Worcester Art Museum and served as its first president. Biograph ...

as its first president.New Art Museum

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. July 6, 1902. Retrieved February 21, 2011 The museum's collection then consisted largely of plaster casts of "antique and Renaissance" sculptures, as well as a selection of 5,000

Japanese prints Woodblock printing in Japan (, ''mokuhanga'') is a technique best known for its use in the ''ukiyo-e'' artistic genre of single sheets, but it was also used for printing books in the same period. Widely adopted in Japan during the Edo period (160 ...

, drawings, and books, willed to the museum from John Chandler Bancroft, son of John Bancroft. In 1905, Stephen Salisbury died and left the bulk of his five million-dollar estate to the museum. The Worcester Art Museum continued to grow and slowly amassed one of the important art collections in the country, with some of the significant early works donated or loaned by the artist and collector

Helen Bigelow Merriman Helen Bigelow Merriman (July 14, 1844MERRIMAN, Helen Bigelow
in ''

.Welu, James
"Helen Bigelow Merriman and the Worcester Art Museum"
Holy Cross College website. Between 1932 and 1939, the Worcester Art Museum joined a consortium of museums and institutions to sponsor expeditions to the archaeological sites where the city of

Antioch Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...

once stood. This group of museums, including

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, the

Baltimore Museum of Art The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is an art museum that was founded in 1914. The BMA's collection of 95,000 objects encompasses more than 1,000 works by Henri Matisse anchored by the Cone Collection of ...

, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

's affiliate,

Dumbarton Oaks Dumbarton Oaks, formally the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, is a historic estate in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It was the residence and garden of wealthy U.S. diplomat Robert Woods Bliss and his wife, M ...

, discovered hundreds of intricate floor mosaics. The

Antioch mosaics The Antioch mosaics are a grouping of over 300 mosaic floors created around the 3rd century AD, and discovered during archaeological excavations of Antioch (Antioch on the Orontes, in modern Turkey) between 1932 and 1939 by a consortium of five ...

, as they are now known, were split up among the institutions The WAM received many mosaics including the ''Worcester Hunt'', which is now installed in the Renaissance Court's floor.Worcester Art Museum Restores Border Panels to Worcester Hunt, Largest Antioch Floor Mosaic in America
Worcester Art Museum. Retrieved January 26, 2011 On May 17, 1972, the museum suffered a major theft of artwork. Two men wearing masks entered the museum just before closing.Suspects in Art Theft Face Court on June 1
The Telegraph. May 23, 1972. Retrieved February 21, 2011.Thieves Take Art Works.

Victoria Advocate ''The Victoria Advocate'' is a daily newspaper independently published in Victoria, Texas. It is the second-oldest paper in Texas and the oldest west of the Colorado River, dating back to May 8, 1846, following the Battle of Palo Alto during the ...

. May 18, 1972. Retrieved February 21, 2011 The two men stole ''The Brooding Woman'' and ''Head of a Woman'' by

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, ''Mother and Child'' by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, and ''St. Bartholomew,'' then attributed to

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 consid ...

, a collection of works worth over one million dollars. Four individuals were charged with the theft as well as the theft of seven artworks stolen from the Boyden Library at

Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy is an elite coeducational preparatory school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schools in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association, the Ten Schools Admis ...

. In 2013, Worcester's

Higgins Armory Museum The Higgins Armory Museum is the name of a collection in the Worcester Art Museum. It was formerly a separate museum located in the nearby Higgins Armory Building in Worcester, Massachusetts, dedicated to the display of arms and armor. It was " ...

closed its doors and its renowned collection of arms and armor was integrated into WAM's. A permanent arms and armor gallery will open no later than 2023; in the meantime, major works from the Higgins collection are on view in galleries throughout the museum, alongside Greek, Roman, Asian, and European works of art. The museum is also rethinking its institutional narrative, leveraging the quality and depth of the collection to tell a story that is an alternative to those told by other museums in the area. The guiding principle for this endeavor is WAM's new mission statement (adopted in 2017): The Worcester Art Museum connects people, communities, and cultures through the experience of art.

Architecture

Mosaics, Worcester Art Museum - IMG 7439

The Worcester Art Museum started as a small three-story building, designed by Stephen C. Earle of

Earle & Fisher Earle & Fisher was an American architectural partnership active during 1892–1903. It was a partnership of Clellan W. Fisher and Stephen C. Earle (1839-1913). Fisher became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1893. A number o ...

, and constructed by

Norcross Brothers Norcross Brothers Contractors and Builders was a nineteenth-century American construction company, especially noted for their work, mostly in stone, for the architectural firms of H.H. Richardson and McKim, Mead & White. The company was founded by J ...

in 1897–98. Very little of the exterior of this original building can be viewed due to the multiple expansions the museum has undertaken. From the start this was the expectation, as Stephen Salisbury and his architects planned the original building as the southern component of a larger structure, five times the size, which would have a central courtyard and front onto Salisbury Street. The first expansion was a rear wing in 1920–21, designed by one of the original architects, Clellan Waldo Fisher, in a matching style. The most distinctive addition was added in 1931–33 in the form of the large wing facing Salisbury Street. Designed to include the Chapter House and Renaissance Court, this addition was designed by William Truman Aldrich of Boston, an architect known for museums. This was followed in 1939-40 by the addition of a fourth floor to the original building, designed by G. Adolph Johnson of Worcester. The next addition was not until 1970, thirty years later, when the Higgins Education Wing, designed by

The Architects Collaborative The Architects Collaborative (TAC) was an American architectural firm formed by eight architects that operated between 1945 to 1995 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The founding members were Norman C. Fletcher (1917-2007), Jean B. Fletcher (1915-19 ...

, was added. This building added studios, classrooms, exhibition spaces and a new main entrance. The most recent major addition was the Frances L. Hiatt Wing, added in 1983 on the east side of the original building. Designed by Irwin A. Regent & Associates of Worcester, it is intended for special exhibitions. These later buildings, though they do not match the style of the earlier buildings, are complementary to them in material and color. In November 2015, the museum unveiled a new walkway ramp at the Salisbury Street entrance. Designed by Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY Architects, the bridge-like structure boldly combines contemporary design with the museum's 1933 Beaux-Arts exterior while making the historic main entrance fully accessible. In 1927, the museum purchased a 12th-century French chapter house that was originally part of the Benedictine Priory of St. John at Bas-Nueil, in the commune of Berrie, Vienne in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Installed in 1932, and linked to the museum in 1933 via the grand Renaissance Court, the chapter house was the first medieval building ever transported from Europe to America. 3The remaining portion of the priory at Bas-Nueil was designated a

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

in 1988. Decorating the Renaissance Court floor is unequivocally one of Worcester's greatest ancient treasures – a group of Antioch mosaics dating from the first through the sixth century A.D, which was excavated at Antioch in Syria.

Collection

Monhegan Island by George Wesley Bellows 1913

In addition to the Roman, mosaic-laden, Renaissance court and French chapter house, strengths of the permanent collection include collections of European and North American painting, prints, photographs, and drawings; Asian art; Greek and Roman sculpture and mosaics; and Contemporary art. European paintings include some Flemish Renaissance paintings, an El Greco, a

, and a room of Impressionist and 20th-century works by

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

Renoir Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Re ...

Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

, and

Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky (; rus, Василий Васильевич Кандинский, Vasiliy Vasilyevich Kandinskiy, vɐˈsʲilʲɪj vɐˈsʲilʲjɪvʲɪtɕ kɐnʲˈdʲinskʲɪj; – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter a ...

. The American painting collection includes works by

Thomas Cole Thomas Cole was an English-born American artist and the founder of the Hudson River School art movement. Cole is widely regarded as the first significant American landscape painter. He was known for his romantic landscape and history painti ...

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 ...

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 ...

William Morris Hunt William Morris Hunt (March 31, 1824September 8, 1879) was an American painter. Born into the political Hunt family of Vermont, he trained in Paris with the realist Jean-François Millet and studied under him at the Barbizon artists’ colony, be ...

, Elizabeth Goodridge, among others. In the 20th-century gallery, the Museum displays works by

Franz Kline Franz Kline (May 23, 1910 – May 13, 1962) was an American painter. He is associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement of the 1940s and 1950s. Kline, along with other action painters like Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Robert Mot ...

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a hor ...

, and

Joan Mitchell Joan Mitchell (February 12, 1925 – October 30, 1992) was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artis ...

Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton by Gilbert Stuart

In 1901, John Chandler Bancroft, a wealthy Bostonian, bequeathed more than 3,000 Japanese prints. The Bancroft Collection spans the history of woodcut printmaking in Japan, with particular strength in rare, early images from the late 17th and 18th centuries. Salisbury's estate donation included many portraits commissioned by his family, as well as sculpture, furniture, and silver. These works, by artists such as

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Charles Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter from Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-known work is an unfinished portrait of George Washi ...

, Thomas Crawford, and

Samuel F.B. Morse Samuel Finley Breese Morse (April 27, 1791 – April 2, 1872) was an American inventor and painter. After having established his reputation as a portrait painter, in his middle age Morse contributed to the invention of a single-wire telegraph ...

and the craftsmen

Paul Revere Paul Revere (; December 21, 1734 O.S. (January 1, 1735 N.S.)May 10, 1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to a ...

, Edward Winslow, and Nathanial Hurd, constituted the nucleus of the American collections.

American Art

File:Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary Freake-Gibbs Painter 1671–1674.jpg, Freake-Gibbs Painter, ''Elizabeth Clarke Freake (Mrs. John Freake) and Baby Mary'', 1671–1674 File:Freake-Gibbs Painter John Freake 1671–1674.jpg, Freake-Gibbs Painter, ''John Freake'', 1671–1674 File:Winslow Homer The Gale 1883–1893.jpg,

, ''The Gale'', 1883–1893 File:John La Farge Peacock Window 1892–1908.jpg,

John La Farge John La Farge (March 31, 1835 – November 14, 1910) was an American artist whose career spanned illustration, murals, interior design, painting, and popular books on his Asian travels and other art-related topics. La Farge is best known for ...

, ''Peacock Window'', 1892–1908 File:Edward Augustus Brackett Shipwrecked Mother and Child 1848-1851.jpg, Edward Augustus Brackett, ''Shipwrecked Mother and Child'', 1848-1851 File:Paul Revere Paine Service 1773.jpg,

, Paine Service, 1773

European Art

File:Piero di Cosimo The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus about 1499.jpg,

Piero di Cosimo Piero di Cosimo (2 January 1462 – 12 April 1522), also known as Piero di Lorenzo, was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. He is most famous for the mythological and allegorical subjects he painted in the late Quattrocento; he is said to ...

, ''

The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus ''The Discovery of Honey by Bacchus'' is a painting by Piero di Cosimo from 1499. It depicts the god Bacchus and the discovery of honey, as described in the ancient Roman poem ''Fasti'' by Ovid. It is in the collection of the Worcester Art Museum ...

'', about 1499 File:Attributed to Leonardo da Vinci and Lorenzo di Credi A Miracle of Saint Donatus of Arezzo 1475-1479.jpg, Attributed to

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

and

Lorenzo di Credi Lorenzo di Credi (1456/59 – January 12, 1537) was an Italian Renaissance painter and sculptor best known for his paintings of religious subjects. He is most famous for having worked in the studio of Andrea del Verrocchio at the same time ...

, ''A Miracle of Saint Donatus of Arezzo'', about 1479 File:Portrait of the Artist's Daughters, probably early 1760s, by Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) - IMG 7281.JPG,

Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists of ...

, ''Portrait of the Artist's Daughters'', 1763–64 File:Paul Gauguin 045.jpg,

, ''Te Faaturuma (The Brooding Woman)'', 1891

Asian Art

File:Torii Kiyonobu I Actor Sawamura Kodenji I as Tsuyu-no-Mae 1698.jpg,

Torii Kiyonobu I Torii Kiyonobu I ( ja, 鳥居清信; – 22 August 1729) was a Japanese painter and printmaker in the ukiyo-e style, who is renowned for his work on kabuki signboards and related materials. Along with his father Torii Kiyomoto, ...

, ''Actor Sawamura Kodenji I as Tsuyu-no-Mae'', 1698 File:Mughal Basawan Birth of Ghazan Khan about 1596.jpg, Mughal ( Basawan), ''Birth of Ghazan Khan, from a manuscript of the "Jami'al-Tawarikh" by Rashid al-Din (1247-1318)'', about 1596 File:Chinese Northern Wei Dynasty Head of a Buddha 550–770.jpg,

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, Northern Wei Dynasty, ''Head of a Buddha'', 550–770

Arms and Armor

File:Nagasone Tojiro Mitsumasa Helmet in the form of a Sea Conch Shell 1618.jpg, Nagasone Tojiro Mitsumasa, Helmet in the form of a Sea Conch Shell, 1618 File:Stefan Rormoser Armor for Field and Tilt 1554.jpg, Stefan Rormoser, Armor for Field and Tilt, of Count Franz von Teuffenbach (1516-1578), 1554 File:Workshop of Hans Sumersperger Gothic Hunting Sword 1490–1500.jpg, Workshop of Hans Sumersperger, "Gothic" Hunting Sword, about 1490–1500

Directors

* Philip T. Gentner 1908–1917 * Raymond Wyer (changed his name in 1923 to Raymond Henniker-Heaton) 1918–1925 * George W. Eggers 1926–1930 *

Francis Henry Taylor Francis Henry Taylor (1903–1957) was a distinguished American museum director and curator, who served as the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for fifteen years. He was born in Philadelphia, and started his career as a curator at the ...

1931–1939 * Charles H. Sawyer 1940–1947 * Louisa Dresser Campbell (acting director) 1943–1946 * George L. Stout 1947–1955 *

1955–1957 *

Daniel Catton Rich Daniel Catton Rich (April 16 1904–15 October 1976) was an American art curator, museum administrator, and educator. A leading advocate for modern art, he served as director of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Worcester Art Museum. Career H ...

1958–1970 * Richard Stuart Teitz 1970–1981 * Tom L. Freudenheim 1982–1986 * James A. Welu 1986–2011 * Matthias Waschek 2011 –

Management

The Worcester Art Museum operates on a $10M annual budget and is governed by an active 25-member Board of Trustees, made up of local, national, and international members with expertise in finance, investment, museum management, art history, education, and real estate development. In addition, WAM has a 200-member Corporation and over 3,000 members and 100 Business Partners. It employs 65 full-time and 128 part-time personnel (including 56 professional artist faculty) and enlists hundreds of volunteers and docents. In November 2017, the Museum was awarded reaccreditation by the American Alliance for Museums. Prior to becoming Director of WAM in 2011, Matthias Waschek, PhD, served as executive director and Curator of the

Pulitzer Arts Foundation Pulitzer Arts Foundation is an art museum in St. Louis, Missouri, that presents special exhibitions and public programs. Known informally as the Pulitzer, the museum is located at 3716 Washington Boulevard in the Grand Center Arts District. The ...

(2003–2011) and Head of Academic Programs at the

Louvre Museum The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

in Paris (1992–2003).

Special exhibitions

April 10, 2021 – January 16, 2022
''What the Nazis Stole from Richard Neumann (and the search to get it back)''

References

External links

*
WAM library
at the Internet Archive {{authority control Art museums established in 1898 Museums in Worcester, Massachusetts Art museums and galleries in Massachusetts 1898 establishments in Massachusetts Museums of ancient Greece in the United States Museums of ancient Rome in the United States Museums of American art Asian art museums in the United States