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Creating a Collection: A Tour Through the Smith College Museum of ArtMain MenuHow do museums build and unbuild collections?How This WorksInstructions on How to Use this WebsiteHow to Read a Museum LabelThis will help you navigate the SCMA and other museumsWhat is "Public Trust"?Why Museums CollectHow Museums CollectWhy Museums Remove Objects from their CollectionsHow Museums Remove Objects from their CollectionsSamantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5c
Juan Gris's "Fruit Dish, Glass, and Newspaper"
12017-03-29T12:20:16-07:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5c15623111916, oil on canvas, 13 x 18 1/4 in, SC 1923:2-1, Gift of Joseph Brummerplain2017-04-26T11:13:43-07:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5c
12017-03-08T17:43:24-08:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5cDonatedSamantha Page18Works of art donated by patrons and artistsstructured_gallery2017-05-05T12:00:24-07:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5c
12017-03-28T10:52:43-07:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5cOn View - Third LevelSamantha Page9Works of art currently on view on the SCMA's Third Levelstructured_gallery2017-05-05T11:59:49-07:00Samantha Page4d4aad3cbb232d6b14d08c9a79a502129237df5c
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12017-03-08T17:43:24-08:00Donated18Works of art donated by patrons and artistsstructured_gallery2017-05-05T12:00:24-07:00The SCMA—like most museums—relies on gifts to add things to its collection. These gifts often come from generous art collectors (patrons of the museum), or from the artists themselves. Here are a few examples.
In the early 1900s, a man named Joseph Brummer donated art (specifically modern art) to the SCMA. This cutting-edge new work, such as Juan Gris's Fruit Dish, Glass, and Newspaper (1916), helped the SCMA start to fill a gap and strengthen the collection.
Dwight Tryon was one of the earliest art instructors hired by Smith College.
Tryon quickly became an adviser to President Laurenus Clark Seelye on what artworks to purchase for the college's growing art collection. Along with overseeing the purchase of paintings by many of Tryon's contemporaries—including Abbott Handerson Thayer and Thomas Wilmer Dewing—Tryon also donated many of his own artworks to the SCMA's collection.[1]
[1] Michael Goodison, “Founding a Museum: Laurenus Clark Seelye, Dwight William Tryon and Alfred Vance Churchill, 1870-1932,” in Image and Word: Art and Art History at Smith College (Northampton, MA: Smith College, 2003): 116-117.
Explore other artworks that have been donated to the SCMA below.
12017-04-02T10:24:08-07:00Inconsistent with collecting policy6plain2017-05-05T13:12:08-07:00When the SCMA deaccessioned nearly 100 American paintings in the 1940s, there was no official connection between the disposal of those artworks and the museum's collecting policy. However, the sale did reflect a change in the museum's interests, as it had begun to collect modern European art much more.
The Kemper Museum of Art at the University of Washington, St. Louis provides a strong example of a museum that removed a number of works from its collection in order to change directions in its mission. Read more about it here for a comparison to the SCMA.
