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Creating a Collection: A Tour Through the Smith College Museum of Art

Lockwood De Forest's "Ramesseum at Thebes"

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Strengthening the collection (filling gaps, adding breadth + depth) Lockwood De Forest's Ramesseum at Thebes was initially acquired by the museum in the late 1870s or early 1880s. Unfortunately, it was deaccessioned in 1941 along with fourteen other paintings.

In 2015, this De Forest painting resurfaced at a dealer in New York City. Thanks to the work of John Davis, an art history professor, and Jessica Nicoll, director of the SCMA, the painting was re-matriated by the SCMA, where it is once again a part of the permanent collection. (Read more here.) Now, Ramesseum fills a more recent gap in the collection in the area of "orientalist painting."

In 2016, Elinor Lander Horwitz '50 donated her collection of Islamic art objects to the SCMA.

The Horwitz Collection, a donation of 43 ceramic objects and 25 miniature paintings, contributes an invaluable new asset to the SCMA. This discipline of art history was previously unrepresented in the museum's collection. Additionally, this donation coincides with an expansion of the Art History department, as it has begun hiring scholars and teaching courses in the field of Islamic art.

Click on one of the artworks below to explore other works added to strengthen the SCMA's collection.
Purchased One way for the SCMA to acquire works of art it wants to add to its collection is to buy them. The museum can buy works from galleries and dealers, and directly from the artists creating the objects.

Buying art directly from artists ensures the artwork's authenticity, demonstrates a commitment to the working creative, and shows an active interest in contemporary art. Early in its existence, Smith demonstrated an interest in and commitment to these values as a teaching institution dedicated to the arts.

In the 1870s, Smith often bought artworks directly from the artists who created them. Examples of this include Abbott Handerson Thayer's Winged Figure (now at the Art Institute of Chicago), Thomas Wilmer Dewing's Lady with a Lute (now in the National Gallery of Art), and Winslow Homer's Song of the Lark (now at the Chrysler Museum of Art).

Bought from a dealer
When being re-matriated (added back into the collection) in 2015, Ramesseum at Thebes was spotted and bought from a dealer in New York City. The SCMA used money from the Hillyer-Mather-Tryon Fund (a combined source of funds given by three major donors to the SCMA) to purchase the artwork.

Click on these other artworks to explore works PURCHASED by the SCMA