Housatonic Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
The Housatonic Museum of Art is a museum at Housatonic Community College
in Bridgeport
, Connecticut
. The museum's collection is displayed throughout the college campus and in the Burt Chernow Galleries, which also hosts visiting exhibitions.
from China are also among the holdings.
Works by these artists are in the collection:
Chernow was one of the earliest collectors of work by American abstract painter Stanley Boxer
, and the museum has two of his works: Lafayette Night Bloom (oil on canvas; 18.5 x 18.5 inches, 1972) and Beach Figure No. 3 (wood totem, 108 inches high, 14 inches wide, undated).
, Henri Matisse
, Joan Miro
, Mary Cassatt
, Milton Avery
, Andy Warhol
, Robert Rauschenberg
, Tom Wesselmann
, Jim Dine
, Jean Dubuffet
, Gustav Klimt
, Henri Cartier-Bresson
, Philip Pearlstein
, Victor Vasarely
, Alberto Giacometti
, and Pierre Renoir
.
In the museum's first 14 years, it had no paid, professional staff, acquisitions budget or the usual professional facilities, relying instead on volunteers and the use of existing space in the college. "Occasional and usually rushed visits to a gallery or museum, or the use of slides or other reproductions, never really equal daily unhurried contacts with works of art, in which students can see true color, sixe and texture in a familiar college setting," Chernow wrote in 1980. Robbin Zella became director in the late 1990s. Since 2000, the museum has hosted traveling exhibits on Rembrandt prints, Ansel Adams
photographs and Frank Warren's "PostSecret
" postcards.
Housatonic Community College
Housatonic Community College is a two-year public college located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. It is currently one of the twelve colleges in the Connecticut Community Colleges system...
in Bridgeport
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...
, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. The museum's collection is displayed throughout the college campus and in the Burt Chernow Galleries, which also hosts visiting exhibitions.
Collection
The museum's holdings are composed of 18th, 19th and 20th century art, as well as ethnographic objects from Africa, Oceania and the Americas.Selected works
The collection covers non-Western art: The museum's African art includes a terra cotta head from Ghana, a drum figure and a helmet mask from Zaire, a Bambara headdress, helmet mask and wood carvings from Nigeria and carved wood sculpture from Guinea. Also in the collection are wood carvings from New Guinea, from India a bronze sculpture, a 14th-century stone carving, and a mid-18th century painting. A Mayan stucco head and Inca storage bottle as well as a marble sculpture representing Kuan YinKuan Yin
Guanyin is the bodhisattva associated with compassion as venerated by East Asian Buddhists, usually as a female. The name Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin which means "Observing the Sounds of the World". She is also sometimes referred to as Guanyin Pusa...
from China are also among the holdings.
Works by these artists are in the collection:
- Bronze sculptures:
- Alexander ArchipenkoAlexander ArchipenkoAlexander Porfyrovych Archipenko was a Ukrainian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist.-Biography:...
, Egyptian Motif - Leonard BaskinLeonard BaskinLeonard Baskin was an American sculptor, book-illustrator, wood-engraver, printmaker, graphic artist, writer and teacher.-Life and work:...
, John Donne - Lee BontecouLee BontecouLee Bontecou is an American artist who was born 15 January 1931 in Providence, Rhode Island. She attended the Art Students League of New York from 1952 to 1955, where she studied with the sculptor William Zorach. She received a Fulbright scholarship to study in Rome in 1957-1958 and the Louis...
: Seated Couple - Doris Caesar, Portrait Study and Wadchen
- Charles DespiauCharles DespiauCharles Despiau was a French sculptor.Despiau was born at Mont-de-Marsan, Landes and attended first the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs and later the Ecole des Beaux Arts...
, Untitled Head I and Untitled Head II - Aristide MaillolAristide MaillolAristide Maillol or Aristides Maillol was a French Catalan sculptor and painter.-Biography:...
, Seated Nude - MarisolMarisol EscobarMaria Sol Escobar , otherwise known simply as Marisol, is a sculptor born in Paris of Venezuelan lineage, living in Europe, the United States and Caracas.-Education:...
, Tower - Auguste RodinAuguste RodinFrançois-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
, Movement of the Dance, Viellard Suppliant and L'eau
- Alexander Archipenko
- Paintings:
- Ferdinand BolFerdinand BolFerdinand Bol was a Dutch artist, etcher, and draftsman. Although his surviving work is rare, it displays Rembrandt's influence; like his master, Bol favored historical subjects, portraits, numerous self-portraits, and single figures in exotic finery.The street Ferdinand Bolstraat in Amsterdam was...
, Admiral de Ruyter, 1653 - Giorgio de ChiricoGiorgio de ChiricoGiorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
, Voyage of the Poet - Alex KatzAlex KatzAlex Katz is an American figurative artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints and is represented by numerous galleries internationally.-Life and work:...
, Incident - Philips Koninck, Portrait of a Man, 1655-1660
- Reginald MarshReginald Marsh (artist)Reginald Marsh was an American painter, born in Paris, most notable for his depictions of life in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Crowded Coney Island beach scenes, popular entertainments such as vaudeville and burlesque, women, and jobless men on the Bowery are subjects that reappear...
, The Chorus - Abraham Storch, Seaport
- Ferdinand Bol
- Drawings:
- Milton AveryMilton AveryMilton Avery was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City.-Biography:...
, Sketch Class (flatbrush drawing) - Larry RiversLarry RiversLarry Rivers was an American artist, musician, filmmaker and occasional actor. Rivers resided and maintained studios in New York City, Southampton, New York and Zihuatanejo, Mexico.-Biography:...
, Humes - Saul SteinbergSaul SteinbergSaul Steinberg was a Romanian-born American cartoonist and illustrator, best known for his work for The New Yorker.-Biography:...
, Autobiography (ink drawing)
- Milton Avery
- Other:
- Ansel AdamsAnsel AdamsAnsel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
, Wood Stump (photograph) - Marc ChagallMarc ChagallMarc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
, Esther (color lithograph) - Christo, Wrapped Modern Art Book (book, plastic wrapping, string)
- Alberto GiacomettiAlberto GiacomettiAlberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
, Lust #154 and 155, (lithograph) - Roy LichtensteinRoy LichtensteinRoy Lichtenstein was a prominent American pop artist. During the 1960s his paintings were exhibited at the Leo Castelli Gallery in New York City and along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, James Rosenquist and others he became a leading figure in the new art movement...
, The Melody Haunts My Reverie (silkscreen in colors) - Isamu NoguchiIsamu Noguchiwas a prominent Japanese American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public works, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and several mass-produced lamps and furniture pieces,...
, Alpii (marble and iron sculpture) - Claes OldenburgClaes OldenburgClaes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
, Study: Soft Red Drainpipe (paint and crayon) - Alfonso Ossorio, Blow in the Face (assemblage of various materials)
- Ansel Adams
Chernow was one of the earliest collectors of work by American abstract painter Stanley Boxer
Stanley Boxer
Stanley Boxer was an American artist best known for thickly painted abstract works of art. He was also an accomplished sculptor and printmaker....
, and the museum has two of his works: Lafayette Night Bloom (oil on canvas; 18.5 x 18.5 inches, 1972) and Beach Figure No. 3 (wood totem, 108 inches high, 14 inches wide, undated).
Other artists represented
The collection also includes works by Pablo PicassoPablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
, Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, Joan Miro
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
, Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt
Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists...
, Milton Avery
Milton Avery
Milton Avery was an American modern painter. Born in Altmar, New York, he moved to Connecticut in 1898 and later to New York City.-Biography:...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is well-known for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
, Tom Wesselmann
Tom Wesselmann
Tom Wesselmann was an American artist associated with the Pop art movement who worked in painting, collage and sculpture.-Early years:...
, Jim Dine
Jim Dine
Jim Dine is an American pop artist. He is sometimes considered to be a part of the Neo-Dada movement. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, attended Walnut Hills High School, the University of Cincinnati, and received a BFA from Ohio University in 1957. He first earned respect in the art world with...
, Jean Dubuffet
Jean Dubuffet
Jean Philippe Arthur Dubuffet was a French painter and sculptor. His idealistic approach to aesthetics embraced so called "low art" and eschewed traditional standards of beauty in favor of what he believed to be a more authentic and humanistic approach to image-making.-Life and work:Dubuffet was...
, Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt
Gustav Klimt was an Austrian Symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His major works include paintings, murals, sketches, and other art objects...
, Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism. He was an early adopter of 35 mm format, and the master of candid photography...
, Philip Pearlstein
Philip Pearlstein
Philip Pearlstein is an American painter, and part of the contemporary Realist school.-Biography:Pearlstein was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He studied at the Carnegie Institute of Technology and received his Masters in art history at New York University. He was a friend of Andy Warhol from...
, Victor Vasarely
Victor Vasarely
Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian French artist whose work is generally seen aligned with Op-art.His work entitled Zebra, created by Vasarely in the 1930s, is considered by some to be one of the earliest examples of Op-art...
, Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...
, and Pierre Renoir
Pierre Renoir
Pierre Renoir was a French stage and film actor and served briefly as the director of the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris, taking over after the death of Louis Jouvet in 1951....
.
History
In 1967, the late Burt Chernow, an artist, professor of art and art history, and chairman of the college's art department, founded the museum. From the start, HMA's collection has been made up of gifts from artists, private collectors, commercial galleries and groups such as the student government. During Chernow's career at the college, the museum had amassed 4,000 objects.In the museum's first 14 years, it had no paid, professional staff, acquisitions budget or the usual professional facilities, relying instead on volunteers and the use of existing space in the college. "Occasional and usually rushed visits to a gallery or museum, or the use of slides or other reproductions, never really equal daily unhurried contacts with works of art, in which students can see true color, sixe and texture in a familiar college setting," Chernow wrote in 1980. Robbin Zella became director in the late 1990s. Since 2000, the museum has hosted traveling exhibits on Rembrandt prints, Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
photographs and Frank Warren's "PostSecret
PostSecret
PostSecret is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on a homemade postcard...
" postcards.