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, be accessible to all, or have restrictions in place. Although ...

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. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

Lawrence, Kansas Lawrence is a city in and the county seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, and the sixth-largest city in the state. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70 in Kansas, Interstate 70, between the Kansas River ...

, United States.

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 t ...

art collector

Sallie Casey Thayer Sallie Casey Thayer, née Casey (February 14, 1856 – September 10, 1925) was a Kansas City art collector and advocate. Her diverse collection of fine and decorative art became the founding gift of the Spencer Museum of Art. Early life Thayer ...

donated her collection of over seven thousand works of art, primarily from

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

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

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 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, commonly known as the Mellon Foundation, is a New York City-based private foundation with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the product of the 1969 merger ...

to support interdisciplinary research. Three years later, an additional $650,000 was awarded. In May 2021, the fourth-floor galleries closed to the public for Phase II renovation also designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Phase II introduced new ceilings and lighting to the galleries that were untouched during Phase I and enhanced the entire fourth floor with new oak floors. Situated within the updated galleries is the new 1,150-square-foot Ingrid & J.K. Lee Study Center, which features custom drawers and glass cases designed to display larger and three-dimensional works of art. These architectural improvements provided an opportunity to rethink the presentation and interpretation of the Museum’s collection galleries, which reopened in November 2022 with four new exhibitions that expand the diversity of artworks and identities represented. Phase II and the reinstallation of the collection galleries were supported by a $900,000 gift from the J.K. and Ingrid Lee Foundation, two grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as private philanthropy, totaling over $4 million.

Collection

The Spencer Museum of Art houses over 48,000 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, p ...

and

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

from ancient to contemporary times, as well as

Asian art Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. East Asian art includes works from China, Japan, and Korea, while Southeast Asian art includes the arts of Brunei, Cambodia, E ...

from various periods.

Murphy Art and Architecture Library

The Library is located on the first level of the Spencer Museum of Art building.

Directors

(1961–1968) * Charles C. Eldredge (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 Academic painting, academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living art ...

, '' 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 of 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 an American landscape painting, landscape painter. Now recognized as one of the most influential American artists of the nineteenth century, Inness was influenced by the Hudson River Schoo ...

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

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French Modernism, 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 (art movement), R ...

, ''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 Flanders, Flemish painter who is mainly known for his Caravaggism, Caravaggesque genre painting, genre scenes depicting lively dramatic gatherings as well as religiously themed works. ...

, ''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 Brother ...

, '' Pia de' Tolomei'', 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 15, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era, Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil ...

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

Gillis van Tilborgh Gillis van Tilborgh or Gillis van Tilborch () was a Flemish people, Flemish painter who worked in various genres including portraits, 'low-life' and elegant genre paintings and Cabinet of curiosities, paintings of picture galleries. He became t ...

, ''A Picture Gallery'', c. 1665

References

External links

Official websiteVirtual tour of the Spencer Museum of Art
provided by

Google Arts & Culture Google Arts & Culture (formerly Google Art Project) is an online platform of high-resolution images and videos of artworks and cultural artifacts from partner cultural organizations throughout the world, operated by Google. It utilizes high-re ...

* {{Authority control 1928 establishments in Kansas Art museums and galleries 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 Buildings and structures in Lawrence, Kansas