Creating a Collection: A Tour Through the Smith College Museum of Art Main Menu How do museums build and unbuild collections? How This Works Instructions on How to Use this Website How to Read a Museum Label This will help you navigate the SCMA and other museums What is "Public Trust"? Why Museums Collect How Museums Collect Why Museums Remove Objects from their Collections How Museums Remove Objects from their Collections

Building a new collection

15623
In 1879, just four years after the opening of Smith College, the school began buying art to support the study of art and art history. Most of the artworks bought in these early years were bought directly from contemporary American artists. These early purchases included paintings by Winslow Homer, Louis C. Tiffany, George Inness, and Thomas Eakins.


In 1920, the museum finally developed its first official collecting policy, which focused on acquiring modern art. This marks a slight change away from American art, which was similar to other interests in the art world at the time.[1] 




 
[1] “History,” Smith College Museum of Art, accessed November 29, 2015, http://www.smith.edu/artmuseum/Collections/History.

This page has tags:

  1. Why Museums Collect Samantha Page

Contents of this tag:

  1. Childe Hassam's "Church at Old Lyme"
  2. Thomas Wilmer Dewing's "Lady with a Lute"
  3. Winslow Homer's "Song of the Lark"
  4. J. Alden Weir's "Delft Plate"
  5. Louis Comfort Tiffany's "Duane Street, New York"
  6. Abbott Handerson Thayer's "Winged Figure"
  7. George Inness's "Morning"
  8. Thomas Eakins's "In Grandmother's Time"
  9. William Merritt Chase's "View of the Brooklyn Navy Yard"
  10. Robert Swain Gifford's "Old Orchard Near the Sea, Massachusetts"
  11. William Merritt Chase's "Woman in Black"

This page references: