The Newport Art Museum, founded in 1912 as the Art Association of Newport, is located at 76

Bellevue Avenue The Bellevue Avenue Historic District is located along and around Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. Its property is almost exclusively residential, including many of the Gilded Age mansions built by affluent summer vaca ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

. The museum operates a gallery in the John N. A. Griswold House, a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

that is one of the first American Stick Style buildings. It was designed by the noted American architect,

Richard Morris Hunt Richard Morris Hunt (October 31, 1827 – July 31, 1895) was an American architect of the nineteenth century and an eminent figure in the history of American architecture. He helped shape New York City with his designs for the 1902 entrance fa� ...

in 1864 and one was one of his first commissions in Newport. The museum purchased the house in 1915. The museum's second gallery space was built in 1919 and was designed by

Delano & Aldrich Delano & Aldrich was an American Beaux-Arts architectural firm based in New York City. Many of its clients were among the wealthiest and most powerful families in the state. Founded in 1903, the firm operated as a partnership until 1935, when Ald ...

. Dedicated to the memory of the artist Howard Gardiner Cushing, the museum added the Sarah Rives lobby and Morris Gallery to the building in 1990."History"
Newport Art Museum website The museum's school is the Coleman Center for Creative Studies at 26 Liberty Street.

History

The Museum has its origin in the Art Association of Newport, which later became the Newport Art Association. It is one of the oldest continuously operating art associations in the United States. The association started during the

art colony An art colony, also known as an artists' colony, can be defined two ways. Its most liberal description refers to the organic congregation of artists in towns, villages and rural areas, often drawn by areas of natural beauty, the prior existence o ...

and

Impressionist 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 ...

movements and was connected to the New York art scene. In 1916 the Association acquired the Griswold House to use as a gallery.Russell, John J. and Spencer, Thomas S. (2000) ''Art Across America: A Comprehensive Guide to American Art Museums and Exhibition Galleries''. Friar's Lantern. p.709 Today the museum has many notable works particularly from Rhode Island and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

artists, including

William Trost Richards William Trost Richards (November 14, 1833 – November 8, 1905) was an American landscape artist. He was associated with both the Hudson River School and the American Pre-Raphaelite movement. Biography William Trost Richards was born on November ...

John Frederick Kensett John Frederick Kensett (March 22, 1816 – December 14, 1872) was an American landscape painter and engraver born in Cheshire, Connecticut. He was a member of the second generation of the Hudson River School of artists. Kensett's signature works ...

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 ...

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 ...

, and Catharine Morris Wright as well as many contemporary artists.

References

External links

* {{authority control 1912 establishments in Rhode Island Art museums established in 1912 Art museums and galleries in Rhode Island Museums in Newport, Rhode Island Museums of American art