Worcester Art Museum

Infobox Museum
name = Worcester Art Museum


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established = 1898
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location = 55 Salisbury Street
Worcester, Massachusetts
type = Art museum
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director = James A. Welu [ [http://www.worcesterart.org/Information/from_the_director.html From the Director of the Worcester Art Museum] ]
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website = [http://www.worcesterart.org Worcester Art Museum]

The Worcester Art Museum, located in Worcester, Massachusetts, is one of the largest art museums in Central Massachusetts.

History and collection overview

The museum opened in 1898 and was established by Stephen Salisbury III, a Massachusetts state Senator and wealthy Worcester landowner. Less than a decade after he founded the Museum, he died. The Museum's first important acquisitions came from bequests. In 1901 John Chandler Bancroft — a wealthy Bostonian — bequeathed a group of over 3,000 Japanese prints. With the arrival of the Museum's first professional director, Philip J. Gentner, the collection has grown to be one of the most reputable in the country. The Museum's mission was founded more than a century ago "for the benefit of all."

The Higgins Education wing, built in the 1970s, offers a plethora of classes to the Worcester community year-round. Classes and workshops range from vacation week programs to adult evening classes as well as an extensive off-site program.

The Worcester Art Museum houses over 35,000 works of art dating from antiquity to the present day, representing cultures from all over the world. Aside from having an extensive collection, WAM hosts a wide range of exhibitions ranging from classical to contemporary as well as from across the globe.

Strengths of the collection include the Roman mosaic-laden Renaissance court, and a 12th century French chapter house. European paintings include some fine Flemish Renaissance paintings, an El Greco, a Rembrandt, and a room of impressionist and 20th century works by the likes of Matisse, Renoir, Gauguin, and Kandinsky. The American painting collection includes works by Thomas Cole, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent among others and a 20th century gallery including works by Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, and Joan Mitchell. It also includes collections of European and North American painting, prints, photographs and drawings; Asian art; Greek and Roman sculpture and mosaics; and Contemporary art.citation | title= Worcester Art Museum: About | publisher=ARTINFO | year=2008 | url= http://www.artinfo.com/galleryguide/19806/6347/about/worcester-art-museum-worcester/ | accessdate=2008-07-24 ]

Collection highlights

• El Greco — "The Repentant Magdalene", about 1577
• Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn - "St. Barholemew"
• Paul Gauguin — "The Brooding Woman", 1891
• Edward Hicks — "The Peaceable Kingdom", about 1833

ee also

* Francis Henry Taylor — former director

References

External links

* [http://www.worcesterart.org Official Museum Website]

* [http://www.worcesterart.org/Education/ Worcester Art Museum Education]