The Spencer Museum of Art 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 ...

operated by the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

. Accredited by the

American Alliance of Museums American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, the Spencer Museum seeks to "...present its collection as a living archive that motivates object-centered research and teaching, creative work, and transformative public dialogue."

History

In 1917, the Kansas City art collector Sallie Casey Thayer donated her collection of over seven thousand works of art, primarily from

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

to the

to form a museum in order to encourage the study of fine arts in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. In 1928, the school established the University of Kansas Museum of Art, with Thayer's collection as the basis, within Spooner Hall. By the 1960s, under the directorship of

Marilyn Stokstad Marilyn Jane Stokstad (February 16, 1929 – March 4, 2016) was an American art historian, educator, and curator. A scholar of medieval and Spanish art, Stokstad was Judith Harris Murphy Distinguished Professor of Art History Emeritus at the Uni ...

, the Museum of Art outgrew the space. In 1978, Helen Foresman Spencer, another female Kansas City collector, made a substantial gift to fund the construction of a new space, under the directorship of Charles C. Eldredge. The new building was designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and Class of 1926 alum Robert E. Jenks in the Neoclassical style from

Indiana limestone Indiana limestone — also known as Bedford limestone in the building trade — has long been an economically important building material, particularly for monumental public structures. Indiana limestone is a more common term for Salem Limestone, ...

. The museum was renamed in honor of Helen to the Spencer Museum of Art. From 1976 to 1983, Elizabeth Broun served as Curator of Prints and Drawings, as well as a stint as Acting Director from 1982 to 1983, succeeding Eldredge. Since then, the museum has only been led by three individuals: Jay Gates, Andrea Norris, and Saralyn Reece Hardy. In 2007, the Spencer Museum of Art grew when over nine thousand objects from the former University of Kansas Museum of Anthropology were transferred to its possession. The collection included a wide variety of global cultural materials, with emphasis on Native American materials. In 2016, the Spencer Museum of Art completed the first phase of a major renovation project, led by the architectural firm

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners Pei Cobb Freed & Partners is an American architectural firm based in New York City, founded in 1955 by I. M. Pei and other associates.

. In addition to transforming over 30,000 square feet of the space, the Stephen H. Goddard Study Center and the Jack and Lavon Brosseau Center for Learning were both added. In that same year, the museum received a grant totaling over $450,000 from the

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation of New York City in the United States, simply known as Mellon Foundation, is a private foundation with five core areas of interest, and endowed with wealth accumulated by Andrew Mellon of the Mellon family of Pitts ...

to support interdisciplinary research. Three years later, an additional $650,000 was awarded.

Collection

The Spencer Museum of Art houses over 47,000 objects in a variety of media. In particular, the collection broadly covers American and

European art The art of Europe, or Western art, encompasses the history of visual art in Europe. European prehistoric art started as mobile Upper Paleolithic rock and cave painting and petroglyph art and was characteristic of the period between the Paleo ...

from ancient to contemporary times, as well as

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 ...

from various periods. Areas of particular strength include: American and European paintings, Japanese art from the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

, and medieval art.

Directors

(1961–1968) * Charles C. Eldredge (1971–1982) * Elizabeth Broun (1982–1983) * Jay Gates (1983–1987) * Andrea Norris (1988–2004) * Saralyn Reece Hardy (2005–present)

Gallery

File:Albert Bierstadt - Sunset on the Plains.jpg,

Albert Bierstadt Albert Bierstadt (January 7, 1830 – February 18, 1902) was a German-American painter best known for his lavish, sweeping landscapes of the American West. He joined several journeys of the Westward Expansion to paint the scenes. He was not ...

, ''Sunset on the Plains'', c. 1887 File:Jean-Léon Gérôme - A Chat by the Fireside.jpg,

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ra ...

, ''A Chat by the Fireside'', 1881 File:Winslow Homer - West India Divers.jpg,

Winslow Homer Winslow Homer (February 24, 1836 – September 29, 1910) was an American landscape painter and illustrator, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in ...

, ''West India Divers'', 1899 File:George Inness - Gossip.jpg, George Inness, ''Gossip'', 1884 File:Édouard Manet - Little Girl in an Armchair.jpg,

Édouard Manet Édouard Manet (, ; ; 23 January 1832 – 30 April 1883) was a French modernist painter. He was one of the first 19th-century artists to paint modern life, as well as a pivotal figure in the transition from Realism to Impressionism. Bo ...

, ''Little Girl in an Armchair'', 1878 File:Theodoor Rombouts - The two musicians.jpeg, Theodoor Rombouts, ''The Musicians'', c. 1620 File:Rossetti - Pia de Tolomei.JPG,

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

, '' Pia de' Tolomei'', c. 1875 File:Dirck Dircksz. Santvoort - Portrait of a Man.jpg, Dirck van Santvoort, ''Portrait of a Man'', 1643 File:John Singer Sargent - Ariana Curtis.jpg, John Singer Sargent, ''Ariana Curtis'', 1882 File:Gillis van Tilborgh - A Picture Gallery.jpg, Gillis van Tilborgh, ''A Picture Gallery'', c. 1665

References

External links

Official websiteVirtual tour of the Spencer Museum of Art
provided by Google Arts & Culture * {{Authority control 1928 establishments in Kansas Art museums established in 1928 Art museums and galleries in Kansas Museums in Douglas County, Kansas Tourist attractions in Lawrence, Kansas University museums in Kansas University of Kansas campus Lawrence, Kansas