New Britain Museum of American Art
Established | 1903 |
---|---|
Location | 56 Lexington Street New Britain, Connecticut, Connecticut, United States |
Type | Art museum |
Website | nbmaa.org |
The New Britain Museum of American Art is an art museum in New Britain, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, it is the first museum in the country dedicated to American art.[1]
A total of 72,000 visits were made to the museum in the year ending June 30, 2009, and another 16,000 visits were made to the museum's satellite gallery at TheatreWorks in Hartford, Connecticut.[2]
Walnut Hill Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, is next to the museum.
History
The museum's origins are in the "New Britain Institute", chartered in 1853 with the goal of fostering education and art in the city, especially among its immigrant population. In 1903, the museum received a bequest of $20,000 from
A wealthy widow, Grace Judd Landers, expected to donate a large amount of money to the museum, but she lost her money in the stock market crash of 1929, and so donated her house as a museum in 1934.[6]
Sanford B. D. Low, a son-in-law of William H. Hart, at one time president of New Britain's
In 1964 the Sanford B. D. Low Memorial Illustration Collection was inaugurated. The first museum collection of American illustration in the United States, it now holds over 1,700 works dating from the 19th century.[7]
Douglas Hyland became executive director of the museum in 1999 after having been director of the San Antonio Museum. He raised funds from new donors outside of New Britain, including the Walton Family Foundation and the Henry Luce Foundation. In 2003, the 43,000-square-foot (4,000 m2) Chase Family Building was constructed, doubling the museum's size. During Hyland's tenure (as of 2009), the New Britain museum building was renovated, and the museum doubled its collection to 10,000 objects, doubled its full-time staff to 24 employees, doubled its docents to 100 and nearly tripled memberships from 1,200 to 3,500.[6]
The museum's $3.92 million in income for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, revenue was up slightly from the $3.86 million of the previous fiscal year.[2]
Collection
The permanent collection includes colonial portraits, works from the
American Colonial and Federal-era portraits are represented with works by
Nineteenth-century still life works at the museum include paintings by Raphaelle Peale, Severin Roesen, William Harnett, John Peto, John Haberle, and John La Farge. Genre painting and sculpture is represented by John Quidor, William Sidney Mount, Lilly Martin Spencer, John George Brown, and John Rogers. The museum's holdings in post-Civil War figural painting and sculpture, include works by Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, J. Alden Weir, George de Forest Brush, Joseph DeCamp, Frank Benson, Edmund C. Tarbell, William Paxton, Elizabeth Nourse, and 19 plasters and bronzes by Solon Borglum.[8]
Works by American Impressionists at the museum include a pastel by Mary Cassatt and works by
The collection also includes the mural series "The Arts of Life in America" by
The museum is the first to build a collection of Post-contemporary Art, centered around Parrish's 9/11 painting and including works by Tony Curanaj, Daniel Maidman, Richard T. Scott, Sadie Valerie, Stephanie Deshpande, and Patricia Watwood, among others.
References
- ^ "New Britain Museum of American Art". Nbmaa.org. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
- ^ a b New Britain Museum of American Art Annual Report 2008-2009, published by the New Britain Museum of American Art, p 46
- ^ Susan Dunne (February 2, 2014). "New Britain Museum of American Art Was First Of Its Kind". The Hartford Courant.
- ^ "New Britain Museum of American Art". City of New Britain, CT. Retrieved February 25, 2020.
- ^ "Art Fund Created". Waterbury Evening Democrat. April 14, 1903.
- ^ a b c d e O'Shaughnessy, Tracey, "Hyland Fling", article, Connecticut Magazine, p 56, November 2009
- ^ "New Britain Museum". Nbmaa.org. 1937-07-01. Retrieved 2014-02-02.
- ^ a b c d Web page titled "Overview" at the New Britain Museum of American Art web site, retrieved December 5, 2009
- ^ "The New Britain Museum of American Art, Traditional Fine Arts Online". Tfaoi.com. Retrieved 2014-02-02.