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 (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...

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 Taze ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It was founded in 1934 by a group organized by noted Pennsylvania impressionist painter,

Walter Emerson Baum Walter Emerson Baum (December 14, 1884 – July 12, 1956) was an American artist and educator active in the Bucks and Lehigh County areas of Pennsylvania in the United States. In addition to being a prolific painter, Baum was also responsible fo ...

. 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 The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, 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 The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

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 t ...

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. variety store, five and ten cent store chain. With his fortune, Kress amassed one of the most significant collection ...

(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 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 Edgar A. Tafel (March 12, 1912 – January 18, 2011)Dunlap, David W''The New York Times'' (January 24, 2011) was an American architect, best known as a disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright. Early life and career Tafel was born in New York City to R ...

-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 Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

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 The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

2010–2011 expansion

In 2010, the museum began a $15.4 million expansion project, designed by architecture firm

Venturi Scott Brown Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major architectural figures of the twentieth century. Together with h ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, 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 William Allen may refer to: Politicians United States *William Allen (congressman) (1827–1881), United States Representative from Ohio *William Allen (governor) (1803–1879), U.S. Representative, Senator, and 31st Governor of Ohio *William ...

, the founder of

Allentown, Pennsylvania Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United ...

. In 2016, the museum acquired " Lehighton", a mural 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 ...

, 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 War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militi ...

Lehighton, Pennsylvania 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 ...

. 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 consid ...

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

European art

* ''Game Stall at Market'', Studio of

Frans Snyders Frans Snyders or Frans Snijders (11 November 1579, Antwerp – 19 August 1657, Antwerp) was a Flemish painter of animals, hunting scenes, market scenes and still lifes. He was one of the earliest specialist animaliers and he is credited with ...

(1625-37) * ''Saint Jerome Penitent'',

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

(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 bee ...

(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 su ...

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

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

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The newspaper's circulation is the largest in both the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley metropolitan region of Southeastern Pennsy ...

American art

* ''Ann Penn Allen'',

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 ...

(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 New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language". Much of his wor ...

(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 inf ...

(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