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

Winslow Homer's "Song of the Lark"

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1. Winslow Homer's "Song of the Lark"

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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
Building a new collection 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.