The Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley 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 ...

located in

Allentown Allentown may refer to several places in the United States and topics related to them: * Allentown, California, now called Toadtown, California * Allentown, Georgia, a town in Wilkinson County * Allentown, Illinois, an unincorporated community in T ...

, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1934 by a group organized by noted Pennsylvania impressionist painter, Walter Emerson Baum. With its collection of over 19,000 works of art, the Allentown Art Museum is a major regional art institution. In addition, its library and archives of more than 16,000 titles and 40 current periodicals make it an important regional cultural resource.

Founding

The Allentown Art Museum, founded originally as the Allentown Art Gallery and organized by Baum, opened in Allentown's Hunsicker School on March 17, 1934. With seventy canvases by local Pennsylvania impressionist artists on display, the gallery attracted major attention from the local and regional art communities. During the Great Depression, Baum was able to grow the collection through the

Public Works of Art Project The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) was a New Deal program designed to employ artists that operated from 1933 to 1934. The program was headed by Edward Bruce, under the United States Treasury Department with funding from the Civil Works Admin ...

and through acquisitions and gifts. In June 1936, the City of Allentown granted the museum a permanent home in a federal-style house located in the Rose Garden in Allentown's Cedar Park. The museum's first curator was local artist John E. Berninger, who lived with his wife on the museum's second floor.

Kress endowment

In 1959, a gift of fifty-three Renaissance and

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...

paintings and sculptures from

Samuel H. Kress Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863 – September 22, 1955) was a businessman, philanthropist, and founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collections of Italian ...

(a native of nearby

Cherryville, Pennsylvania Cherryville is a census-designated place in Lehigh Township in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. Its population was 1,618 as of the 2020 U.S. census. The village is located approximately east of Walnutport, north of Allentown and northwest ...

) brought the museum to a new level. The Kress gift stimulated community visionaries and museum friends to purchase and refurbish a building, formerly the First Presbyterian Church (originally built 1902), suitable to house the new collection. In 1960, the Kress gift was featured in the museum's first major catalog, "The Samuel H. Kress Memorial Collection", written by Richard Hirsch, the institution's first director. In his introduction, Hirsch's observed how the "fleeting imagery of TV" changed perceptions of the works in the collection. When created, they were not merely one of many representations of religious figures, but the figures themselves. Hirsch's observations portend the

Slow Movement Slow movement may refer to: * Slow movement (music) *Slow movement (culture) *Bradykinesia Hypokinesia is one of the classifications of movement disorders, and refers to decreased bodily movement. Hypokinesia is characterized by a partial or com ...

arising more than 25 years later encouraging a renewed, attentive appreciation of the world, including fine art. The museum began featuring "Slow Art" days in 2011 to acknowledge the benefits of quiet, intense reflection. In 1975, an Edgar Tafel-designed expansion to the building was completed to enhance the museum's programs and collecting plans. At that time, the Museum installed a room designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as part of its permanent collection: the library from the second Francis W. Little House. Another room from that house can be seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

2010–2011 expansion

In 2010, the museum began a $15.4 million expansion project, designed by architecture firm Venturi Scott Brown of Philadelphia, to renovate the museum, add of new classroom and gallery space, corner cafe, expanded gift shop, and add a new all-glass facade to the Fifth Street side of the facility. The expansion, which is the museum's first since 1975, was initially proposed in 1999 and is a significant reduction from the $32 million, addition originally planned. Approximately 40% of the new space is gallery space.

Current collection

The Allentown Art Museum's collection, still largely defined by European paintings in 1975, expanded with a large collection of textiles and another gift of works on paper. In 1978, the museum acquired Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Ann Penn Allen, granddaughter of William Allen, the founder of

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 census. It is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania an ...

. In 2016, the museum acquired "

Lehighton Lehighton () is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Lehighton is located northwest of Allentown and northwest of Philadelphia. Due in part to water power from the Lehigh River, Lehighton was an ...

", a mural by Franz Kline, which the artist created for the

American Legion The American Legion, commonly known as the Legion, is a non-profit organization of U.S. war veterans headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is made up of state, U.S. territory, and overseas departments, and these are in turn made up of lo ...

in Lehighton, Pennsylvania. Following intensive work on the mural by Luca Bonetti Painting Restoration, the restored painting was unveiled to the public in January 2017.

''Portrait of a Young Lady'' by Rembrandt

On February 10, 2020, ''Portrait of a Young Lady'' (1632) by

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 consi ...

from the museum's collection was announced as authentic following reassessment.

European art

* ''Game Stall at Market'', Studio of Frans Snyders (1625-37) * ''Saint Jerome Penitent'',

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He painted mainly altarpieces, religio ...

(1515) * ''Portrait of Henrica Ploost van Amstel'',

Paulus Moreelse Paulus Moreelse (1571 – 6 March 1638) was a Dutch painter, mainly of portraits. Life Moreelse was born and lived most of his life in Utrecht. He was a pupil of the Delft portrait painter Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt, who had himself be ...

(1625) * Central Panel of an Altarpiece ''Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine'',

Giovanni del Biondo Giovanni del Biondo was a 14th-century Italian painter of the Gothic and early-Renaissance period. He was active in the period 1356-1399 and is mainly known for his panel paintings. He specialized in religious-themed works, many of which have s ...

(1379) * ''Portrait of a Young Woman'',

(1632)Allentown finds it has a Rembrandt in its art museum
'' The Philadelphia Inquirer''

American art

* ''Ann Penn Allen'', Gilbert Stuart (1795) * ''Niagara Falls'', Gustav Johann Grunewald (1834) * ''Floriform Vase'', Tiffany Studios (1905)

Textiles

* ''Bed Curtain (Palampore)'', India, Coromandel Coast (1775) * ''Table Cover'', Margaret Oothout (1764)

Prints and drawings

* ''Diogenes after Parmigiano'',

Ugo da Carpi Ugo da Carpi ( – ) was an Italian printmaker active between 1502 and 1532 in the cities of Venice, Rome and Bologna. He is known for his technical and stylistic contributions to the chiaroscuro woodcut, a printmaking technique using bloc ...

(after 1525) * ''Untitled'',

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the Graffiti in New York City, New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual l ...

(1982) * ''Il Perdono (Vision of Saint Francis of Assisi)'',

Federico Barocci Federico Barocci (also written ''Barozzi'')(c. 1535 in Urbino – 1612 in Urbino) was an Italian Renaissance painter and printmaker. His original name was Federico Fiori, and he was nicknamed Il Baroccio. His work was highly esteemed and in ...

(1581)

References

External links

Allentown Art Museum Official Web Site
* {{authority control 1934 establishments in Pennsylvania Art museums and galleries in Pennsylvania Art museums established in 1934 Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Museums in Allentown, Pennsylvania