Mead Art Museum houses the fine art collection of
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
in Amherst, Massachusetts. Opened in 1949, the building is named after architect
William Rutherford Mead
William Rutherford Mead (August 20, 1846 – June 19, 1928) was an American architect who was the "Center of the Office" of McKim, Mead, and White, a noted Gilded Age architectural firm.Baker, Paul R. ''Stanny'' The firm's other founding pa ...
(class of 1867), of the prestigious architectural firm
McKim, Mead & White
McKim, Mead & White was an American architectural firm that came to define architectural practice, urbanism, and the ideals of the American Renaissance in fin de siècle New York. The firm's founding partners Charles Follen McKim (1847–1909), Wil ...
. His wife, Olga Kilyeni Mead, left her entire estate to Amherst College. The museum, a member of
Museums10
Museums10 is a consortium of art, science, and history museums in Western Massachusetts. It includes art museums from the Five Colleges and Historic Deerfield.
Art museums
* The Hampshire College Art Gallery (Hampshire College)
* The Mead Ar ...
, is free and open to the public.
Collection
The Mead holds the Amherst College art collection, which includes:
* American and European paintings
* Thomas P. Whitney collection of Russian art
* Mexican Ceramics
* Tibetan scroll paintings
* 17th century English paneled room
* Ancient Assyrian carvings
* West African sculpture
* Japanese prints
The Mead Art Museum has a wide ranging collection of approximately 19,000 items. The works in the Museum's collection can be searched on the database maintained by the
Five College Museums/Historic Deerfield.
Points of interest
Assyrian Reliefs
In 1857, Amherst College acquired panels from the palace of Ashurnasirpal II in Nimrud. In the palace built around 879 B.C.E., the walls of the ceremonial halls and corridors were decorated with monumental relief carvings. The king Ashurnasirpal II is shown in the central panel wearing a fringed robe and royal headdress. In his right hand, he carries a shallow cup used for pouring offerings to the gods, and in his left hand he holds his bow, symbol of his bravery and military might. The central panel is flanked by panels depicting winged protective spirits called genii, or apkallu (as they are termed in the ancient Akkadian language).
The cuneiform inscription, written in a dialect of the Semitic language Akkadian, glorifies the military exploits of King Ashurnasirpal II; his special stature among the gods; and the luxury and grandeur of his building program. Ashurnasirpal II conquered new areas to the west of the Assyrian homeland, beyond the Euphrates River. To emphasize his role as a major powerbroker, he moved the administrative capital from its traditional location at Assur to Kalhu, known today as Nimrud. In addition to his palace, he built temples, administrative buildings, and residences. Population estimates for ancient Kalhu at the time of King Ashurnasirpal run as high as 60,000.
British diplomat and explorer Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894) excavated Nimrud in 1845. Dwight Marsh, an American missionary in Mosul, befriended Layard in 1850 and suggested that educational institutions would benefit greatly from having a few of the panels in their collections. During the early 1850s, panels were selected for and shipped to Amherst, Yale, Bowdoin, Dartmouth, and Middlebury as well as various theological seminaries. Amherst College’s third president Edward Hitchcock obtained reliefs for Amherst. The twelve-inch thick reliefs were shaved down to about four inches and then cut into squares for easier transport. The total weight of the reliefs is approximately 2 tonnes. They were transported from Nimrud to eastern Mediterranean ports, and then shipped to the United States. When the panels reached Amherst College they were first displayed in the library, but soon were moved to the purpose-built “Nineveh Gallery” attached to the Octagon.
Rotherwas Room
The Rotherwas Room is an English
Jacobean-style room currently in the Mead Art Museum, in
Amherst College
Amherst College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zephaniah Swift Moore, Amherst is the third oldest institution of higher educatio ...
.
It was originally installed in the estate of the Bodenham family called Rotherwas Court, in Herefordshire, England, as part of the
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
where the family lived. It was commissioned by Sir Roger Bodenham sometime after 1600 and completed in 1611. Some of the room's most prominent aspects include a carved oak mantelpiece and walnut wall panelling. The room originally functioned as a parlor, where families would dine privately or entertain guests informally.
[Cooper, Nicholas (2006). ''The Jacobean country house : from the archives of 'Country Life'.'' London: Aurum. p. 13. . ]
In 1945,
Herbert L. Pratt
Herbert Lee Pratt (November 21, 1871 – February 3, 1945) was an American businessman and a leading figure in the United States oil industry. In 1923, he became head of Standard Oil of New York; his father Charles Pratt was a founder of Astr ...
bequeathed the room to the college. It had been previously installed in his
Neo-Jacobean
The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...
House "The Braes," in Glen Cove, Long Island. Although the wall
panelling
Panelling (or paneling in the U.S.) is a millwork wall covering constructed from rigid or semi-rigid components. These are traditionally interlocking wood, but could be plastic or other materials.
Panelling was developed in antiquity to make roo ...
and the
mantelpiece
The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and c ...
of the original room remain, no specific records of the furniture or the ceiling design of this room in the original Rotherwas Court house have been found.
Programs
The Mead hosts free programs throughout the academic school year for the Amherst College and Pioneer Valley community. Regular events include exhibition openings, regular Saturday student-led tours, Study At the Mead, a time during Finals and Midterms Weeks where the Mead has food and desks in the galleries for studying, and Community Day, a day of free artmaking, tours, and programs for all. The Mead regularly updates the Mead website, the Mead Facebook page, and the Mead instagram with the latest events.
See also
*
List of museums in the United States
A list of museums in the United States by state. According to a government statement, there are more than 35,000 museums in the US.
Alabama
:''See List of museums in Alabama.''
:''See also :Museums in Alabama.''
Alaska
:''See List of museu ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mead Art Museum
Amherst College
University museums in Massachusetts
Museums in Hampshire County, Massachusetts
Art museums and galleries in Massachusetts
Russian art
Gothic Revival architecture in Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Amherst, Massachusetts