The Krannert Art Museum (KAM) is a fine

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 at the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univers ...

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metro ...

, United States. It has of space devoted to all periods of art, dating from ancient Egypt to contemporary photography
The museum's collection
of more than 11,000 objects can be accessed online and includes specializations in 20th-century art,

Asian art The history of Asian art includes a vast range of arts from various cultures, regions, and religions across the continent of Asia. The major regions of Asia include Central, East, South, Southeast, and West Asia. Central Asian art primarily c ...

, and

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...

art, particularly works from the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. In addition to collection galleries, the museum features 6 to 10 special exhibitions each year from national and international museum collections as well as exhibitions of art by contemporary artists, faculty and graduate and undergraduate students .

History

The museum was designed by architect Ambrose Richardson and opened in 1961. An addition to the museum was completed in 1988. This addition, the Kinkead Pavilion, was the creation of Larry Booth and Associates. The building incorporates contemporary Egyptian art decorative elements in an overall

post-modernist Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

design. The museum is named for benefactors

Herman C. Krannert Herman C. Krannert (1887-1972) was a businessman and philanthropist in the Midwest of the United States who made millions in the corrugated fiber products industry and subsequently made generous contributions to education and the arts. Among other ...

and his wife Ellnora Krannert in recognition of Ellnora's interest in the arts. With over 132,000 visitors annually, the museum supports scholarship through the Fred and Donna Giertz Education Center. In 2012, the Krannert Art Museum opened a newly redesigned gallery of

African art African art describes the modern and historical paintings, sculptures, installations, and other visual culture from native or indigenous Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and the African continent. The definition may also include the art of the ...

entitled Encounters: The Arts of Africa. A renovation of additional main floor galleries was completed in 2017. In 2019, the museum opened Art Since 1948, a long-term collections installation focused on KAM's collection of modern and contemporary art.

Collections

Major collections of the museum include the Trees Collection of European and American Painting, Harlan E. and Theresa E. Moore Gallery of Decorative Arts, the Olsen Collection of Ancient Andean art, Encounters: The Arts of Africa, Art Since 1948. The museum is a unit within the University of Illinois College of Fine and Applied Arts. Untitled at Krannert Art Museum (14251633517)

Untitled at Krannert Art Museum (14251633517)

References

External links

* * Museums in Champaign, Illinois Art museums and galleries in Illinois University museums in Illinois Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Buildings and structures of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign {{Illinois-museum-stub