Woodmere Art Museum, located in the Chestnut Hill section of

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 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. Since ...

, has a collection of paintings, prints, sculpture and photographs focusing on artists from the

Delaware Valley The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...

and includes works by

Thomas Pollock Anshutz Thomas Pollock Anshutz (October 5, 1851 – June 16, 1912) was an American painter and teacher. Known for his portraiture and genre scenes, Anshutz was a co-founder of The Darby School. One of Thomas Eakins's most prominent students, he succeed ...

Severo Antonelli Severo Antonelli (ca. July 17, 1907 – December 9, 1995) was an Italian-American photographer often associated with the Futurist movement. Early years Born in Fara Filiorum Petri, Chieti, Italy, in 1907, Antonelli arrived in Philadelphia with ...

Jasper Francis Cropsey Jasper Francis Cropsey (February 18, 1823 – June 22, 1900) was an important American landscape artist of the Hudson River School. Early years Cropsey was born on his father Jacob Rezeau Cropsey's farm in Rossville on Staten Island, New Yor ...

(''The Spirit of Peace''), Daniel Garber, Edward Moran,

Violet Oakley Violet Oakley (June 10, 1874 – February 25, 1961) was an American artist. She was the first American woman to receive a public mural commission. During the first quarter of the twentieth century, she was renowned as a pathbreaker in mural dec ...

, Herbert Pullinger, Edward Willis Redfield,

Nelson Shanks John Nelson Shanks (December 23, 1937 – August 28, 2015) was an American artist and painter. His best known works include his portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales, first shown at Hirschl & Adler Gallery in New York City, April 24 to June 2 ...

Jessie Willcox Smith Jessie Willcox Smith (September 6, 1863 – May 3, 1935) was an American illustrator during the Golden Age of American illustration. She was considered "one of the greatest pure illustrators". A contributor to books and magazines during the lat ...

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

(''The Fatal Wounding of Sir Philip Sidney''),

Philip Jamison Philip Jamison (July 3, 1925 – September 3, 2021) was an American artist working primarily with watercolor as a medium. Typical scenes are landscapes, seascapes, interiors and flower arrangements. Biography Jamison was born in 1925 in Philad ...

Barbara Bullock Barbara J. Bullock (1938) is an African American painter, collagist, printmaker, soft sculptor and arts instructor. Her works capture African motifs, African and African American culture, spirits, dancing and jazz in abstract and figural forms. She ...

and

N. C. Wyeth Newell Convers Wyeth (October 22, 1882 – October 19, 1945), known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was the pupil of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 ...

(''Anthony and Mr. Bonnyfeather'').Woodmere Art Museum Official Site
/ref> The collection includes the Violet Oakley

lunette A lunette (French ''lunette'', "little moon") is a half-moon shaped architectural space, variously filled with sculpture, painted, glazed, filled with recessed masonry, or void. A lunette may also be segmental, and the arch may be an arc taken ...

paintings of ''The Child and Tradition'', ''Youth and the Arts'', and ''Man and Science''.Building the House of Wisdom: A Closer Look at Violet Oakley, August 9, 2011
/ref>

Classes

Woodmere provides art classes for adults and children and conducts a variety of special events and exhibitions including gallery talks, field trips, lectures, concerts and an annual juried exhibition.

History

The museum was opened in 1940, founded by Charles Knox Smith (1845–1916), an oil and mining businessman, in his will. Smith was born in the

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

neighborhood of Philadelphia and began his career as a grocer's boy and as an oil wagon driver. He rose to become a partner in that oil firm and subsequently invested in his own oil brokerage and a gold and silver mining company in Mexico. Smith's collection of paintings, sculpture and antiques form the base of the permanent collection. It is housed in his Victorian mansion, Woodmere, to which Smith had added large exhibition spaces.

Collection highlights

File:Alfred Thompson Bricher Sailing Before a Gale.jpg, ''Sailing before a Gale'' (undated), by

Alfred Thompson Bricher Alfred Thompson Bricher (April 10, 1837 – September 30, 1908) was a painter associated with White Mountain art and the Hudson River School. Life and work Bricher was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was educated in an academy at Newburyp ...

File:Cassatt, Mary Pink Sash 1898.jpg, ''The Pink Sash'' (1898), by

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, where she befriended Edgar De ...

File:Frederic Edwin Church Sunset in the Berkshire Hills.jpg, ''Sunset in the Berkshire Hills'' (1857), by

Frederic Edwin Church Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900) was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters, best known for painting large landscapes, ...

File:Jasper Francis Cropsey The Spirit of Peace.jpg, ''The Spirit of Peace'' (1851), by

File:David de Noter Fruit and Flowers.jpg, ''Fruit and Flowers'' (undated), by File:Johann Geyer Columbus and the Egg.jpg, ''Columbus and the Egg'' (1847), by File:William Louis Sonntag A Dream of Italy.jpg, ''A Dream of Italy'' (undated), by William Louis Sonntag Sr. File:Benjamin West - The Fatal Wounding of Sir Philip Sidney.jpg, ''The Fatal Wounding of Sir Philip Sidney'' (1805), by

References

External links

Exhibitions at Woodmere
{{authority control Art museums and galleries in Philadelphia Institutions accredited by the American Alliance of Museums Art museums established in 1940 1940 establishments in Pennsylvania Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia