Indianapolis Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
The Indianapolis Museum of Art (known colloquially as the IMA) is an encyclopedic art museum located in Indianapolis, Indiana
, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a 152 acre (0.61512272 km²) campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery
.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is the ninth oldest and eighth largest encyclopedic art museum in the United States. The permanent collection comprises over 54,000 works, including African, American, Asian, and European pieces. Significant areas of the collection include: Neo-Impressionist
paintings; Japanese paintings of the Edo period
; Chinese ceramics and bronzes; paintings, sculptures, and prints by Paul Gauguin
and the Pont-Aven School
; a large number of works by J.M.W. Turner; and a growing contemporary art collection. Other areas of emphasis include textiles and fashion arts as well as a recent focus on modern design.
In addition to its collections, the museum consists of 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park; Oldfields
, a restored American Country Place era estate once owned by Josiah K. Lilly, Jr.; and restored gardens and grounds originally designed by Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted Brothers firm
. The IMA also owns the Miller House
, a Mid-Century modern
home designed by Eero Saarinen
and located in Columbus, Indiana
. The museum's holdings demonstrate the institution's emphasis on the connections among art, design, and the natural environment.
Founded in 1883 by the Art Association of Indianapolis, the first permanent museum was opened in 1906 as part of the John Herron Art Institute. In 1969, the Art Association of Indianapolis changed its name to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and in 1970 the museum moved to its current location at Michigan Road and 38th Street north of downtown Indianapolis. Among the Art Association's founders was May Wright Sewall
(1844–1920), known for her work in the women's suffrage movement. Other supporters have included Booth Tarkington
(1869–1946), Eli Lilly
(1885–1977), Herman C. Krannert
(1887–1972), and Caroline Marmon Fesler (1878–1960). The associated John Herron Art Institute was established with the help of notable Hoosier Group
artists T. C. Steele
and William Forsyth
.
Maxwell L. Anderson
has served as the Melvin and Bren Simon Director and CEO since 2006. The museum is widely recognized as innovative in its development of open source technologies, institutional transparency, and collaboration between museums. In 2008, the IMA became the first fine art museum to be named an Energy Star
partner due to its greening initiative and efforts to reduce energy consumption. In 2009, the IMA was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service for public service, specifically the museum's free admission policy and educational programming.
. Formed in 1883, the organization aimed to inform the public about visual art and provide art education. The Art Association's first exhibition, which opened November 7, 1883, contained 453 artworks from 137 artists. The death of wealthy Indianapolis resident John Herron in 1895 left a substantial bequest with the stipulation that the money be used for a gallery and a school with his name. The John Herron Art Institute opened in 1902 at the corner of 16th and Pennsylvania street. Emphasis on the Arts and Crafts Movement
grew throughout the early years of the school, with a focus on applied art. William Henry Fox was hired in 1905 as the Art Institute's first director. From 1905 to 1910, Fox managed both the museum and the school while constructing two new buildings on the 16th street site.
From the 1930s until the 1950s, the John Herron Art Institute placed an emphasis on professionalism and growth in collections. Wilbur Peat, director of the museum from 1929 until 1965, acquired significant portions of the collection. Peat also made connections with benefactors such as Dr. George H. A. Clowes, Booth Tarkington
, and Eli Lilly
. Caroline Marmon Fesler, president of the Art Association of Indianapolis, gave a number of artworks in the 1940s including 20th century modern artworks and Post-Impressionist works by Cézanne, Van Gogh
, and Seurat. After years of debate surrounding expansion and relocation of the museum and school, the great grandchildren of Eli Lilly, J.K. Lilly III and Ruth Lilly
, donated the family estate, Oldfields, to the Art Association of Indianapolis in 1966. One year later it was decided that the school would become a part of Indiana University's Indianapolis campus in an effort to assist with accreditation. That same year it was confirmed that the museum would relocate to Oldfields, with the new Krannert Pavilion opening to the public in October 1970. In 1969, prior to moving to the new site, the Art Association of Indianapolis officially changed its name to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
in Cleveland, Ohio
, board chairman Herman Krannert proposed building an "Acropolitan Area" that would combine a number of cultural institutions in a natural setting. The museum's location on the grounds of Oldfields allowed architect Ambrose Madison Richardson to build on the idea of an acropolis
while also utilizing the natural features of the site. Krannert Pavilion opened in 1970 as the first of four buildings located on the museum's grounds. Following the opening of Krannert, the expansion continued with the Clowes Pavilion in 1972, which housed the Clowes' collection of Old Masters'
. Construction on the Showalter Pavilion and Sutphin Fountain was completed in 1973. In 1986 Edward Larrabee Barnes
was chosen to design the Hulman Pavilion, a new wing of the museum which housed the Eiteljorg collection of African
and South Pacific Art. The pavilion opened in 1990 and increased the exhibition space to more than 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²). The expansion aimed to provide clearer chronological continuity and a more coherent flow as visitors moved from one gallery to the next.
From the mid 1990s until 2005 the IMA focused on the next phase of development, the "New Vision", or what became known as the "New IMA." After four years of restoration, the Oldfields mansion reopened to the public in June 2002 and was designated a National Historic Landmark
in 2003. In 2005 the museum completed a three year, $74 million renovation and expansion project that added three new wings and 50 percent more gallery space to the building. In all, the construction added 164000 square feet (15,236.1 m²) to the museum, in addition to the renovation of 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) of existing space. Renovations included the Hulman and Clowes Pavilions, which house the museum's European collection, as well as the addition of the Allen Whitehill Clowes Gallery. The expansion aimed to unify the building and campus while creating a more welcoming atmosphere for visitors. As one of three new wings and as a new entry to the building, the Efroymson Pavilion helped to transition visitors between the museum and the surrounding grounds. The Wood Gallery Pavilion added three levels of gallery space as well as a dining area and education suite, while the Deer Zink Pavilion added additional space for private and public events. The architectural focus on welcoming visitors coincided with a new advertising campaign that reached out to a broader, more diverse audience.
, a unified work of art that combines the arts of landscape design
, gardening
, architecture
, interior design
, and decorative arts. In addition to the restored gardens and grounds of Oldfields, other notable areas of the grounds include the Sutphin Mall and Fountain, the wheelchair accessible Garden for Everyone, and a working greenhouse and shop. The IMA grounds are also home to 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park, located behind the museum proper. Garden areas make use of existing features in the natural landscape and incorporate examples of public art, both historical and contemporary.
, Jeppe Hein
, Los Carpinteros
, Tea Makipaa
, Type A, and Andrea Zittel
. These works, along with an LEED certified visitor center, are linked by a variety of walking trails.
The next commissioned work for 100 Acres will premier in September 2011 and will include a series of installations along the White River
by artist Mary Miss. The artist will be working with local universities, environmental organizations, and government agencies to create FLOW (Can You See the River?). The piece will consist of various collaborative public art installations along Indianapolis' Central Canal and the White River, inviting visitors to become more aware of issues related to the health of the river and the city's water supply.
in 2003. Oldfields was built between 1910 and 1913 by architect Lewis Ketcham Davis for the family of Hugh McKennan Landon, who occupied the home from 1913 until 1932 when it was sold to J.K. Lilly, Jr.
Lilly, the late Indianapolis businessman, collector, and philanthropist, renovated and expanded the estate throughout the 1930s and 1940s, updating interiors as well as adding a number of new buildings to the grounds. The 22-room mansion has undergone historic restoration
and is currently interpreted to reflect the 1930s era when the Lilly family occupied the residence. In addition to the home's significance as a representation of the American country house movement, Oldfields' gardens and grounds are a rare example of a preserved estate landscape designed by Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted Brothers firm.
home designed by Eero Saarinen
and located in Columbus, Indiana
. The residence was commissioned by American industrialist, philanthropist, and architecture patron J. Irwin Miller
and his wife Xenia Simons Miller in 1953. Design and construction on the Miller House took four years and was completed in 1957. The home was declared a National Historic Landmark
in 2000. In 2009, the home and gardens, along with many of the original furnishings, were donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art by the Miller family. In addition to Eero Saarinen, the house and gardens showcases the work of leading 20th-century figures such as interior designer Alexander Girard
, landscape architect Dan Kiley
, and principal design associate at the Saarinen office, Kevin Roche
.
, a greenhouse, and the surrounding grounds. Allen Clowes died in 2000 and bequeathed the estate to the museum, intending it to serve as an event space and the home for the IMA director. In 2006 the estate underwent a $2-million renovation, with a major gift of $800,000 by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Foundation and an anonymous donor. The renovation was headed by Indianapolis-based architects Rowland Design, construction company Shiel Sexton, and interior designer Jacqueline Anderson
, who is the wife of IMA director Maxwell Anderson. Currently, the first floor and grounds remain a space for museum events, while the Anderson family lives on the second and third floors. Westerley historically served as a venue for the Clowes family to showcase their fine art collection, which eventually became the foundation for the IMA's early European collection. Upon the renovation, Jacqueline Anderson chose to continue the display of selected Clowes' pieces alongside the couple's collection of contemporary art.
and sculpture; prints
, drawings, and photographs; Asian art
; art of Africa
, the South Pacific, and the Americas
; ancient art of the Mediterranean; Design Arts; textile and fashion arts; and contemporary art
. The museum holds a significant collection of Neo-Impressionist paintings and prints, many of which were gifted in 1977 by local industrialist W.J. Holliday. Combined with the Neo-Impressionist collection is the Samuel Josefowitz Collection of Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven, which includes highlights such as Bretons in a Ferryboat by Emile Bernard
. The IMA also holds a large collection of works by J.M.W. Turner, containing highlights such as the 1820 watercolor, Rosslyn Castle. The collection, which was formed by a substantial donation by philanthropist Kurt Pantzer in 1979, includes over fifty watercolors, as well as oil paintings, prints, and etching
s.
The European collection, which is organized into works before 1800 and works from 1800–1945, includes highlights such as Aristotle by Jusepe de Ribera and The Flageolet Player on the Cliff by Paul Gauguin. Rembrandt's Self-Portrait is part of the Clowes Fund Collection, which comprises a number of significant Old Masters pieces. Part of the Neo-Impressionist collection, The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe by Georges Seurat was one of the first works to be donated by Caroline Marmon Fesler in the 1940s. Fesler would go on to donate a number of important works, including her bequest in 1961 of notable 20th century modernism
pieces that included Pablo Picasso
, Chagall
, and Matisse
. Pieces in the American collection represent American Impressionism and Modernism, including works by Georgia O'Keefe and George Inness
. Significant pieces include Hotel Lobby
(1943) by Edward Hopper
and Boat Builders
by Winslow Homer
.
The museum has a substantial Asian art collection, with more than 5,000 pieces spanning 4,000 years. Most notable is the IMA's acclaimed collection of Japanese Edo Period paintings, scrolls, and screens
. Highlights include A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines, a Ming Dynasty work by Wu Bin
, and Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian Patriarchs, an Edo period panel by Kano Sanraku
, in addition to a number of Chinese ceramics and bronzes that were donated by Eli Lilly in 1961. The IMA's collection is also made up of more than 2,000 pieces of African art and artifacts, 1,200 of which were donated by Harrison Eiteljorg in 1989. The IMA has expanded the collection to include both historical and contemporary objects from every major region of Africa, including Egypt. The museum is unique in its inclusive display of Islamic
and ancient Egyptian
works within the African gallery, rather than with Greek
or Roman
antiquities. Significant pieces include a female ancestor figure of the Senufo people and Magbo helmet mask for Oro association by master carver Onabanjo of Itu Meko.
The museum's textile and fashion art collection is made up of 7,000 items, including 20th century, custom-designed costumes by Givenchy
, Chanel
, and Balmain
. The collection includes a number of the world's fabric traditions, including African textiles donated by sisters Eliza and Sarah Niblack between 1916 and 1933 and a significant collection of Baluchi
rugs. Based on the museum's early history of collecting textiles, items range from couture
to silks and antique laces spanning 500 years. Some notable pieces include an Imperial Russian court dress by designer Charles Frederick Worth
and Bodhisattva of Wisdom (Mañjusri), a Ming Dynasty
silk panel. The museum's Design Arts collection is made up of European and American pieces from the Renaissance to the present. The collection includes Eliel Saarinen
's sideboard designed in 1929 for The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition The Architect and the Industrial Arts: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Design and the Bubbles chaise longue designed by Frank Gehry
in 1979 for the Experimental Edges Series.
In recent years the IMA has begun to focus on developing its contemporary art collection, which includes works such as Two White Dots in the Air by Alexander Calder
and Light and Space III, a permanent installation by Robert Irwin
located in the Pulliam Great Hall. Since 2007 the museum has featured site-specific
contemporary installations in the Efroymson Pavilion, rotating the temporary works every six months. The Efroymson Pavilion has featured works by artists such as William Lamson
, Ball-Nogue Studio, Orly Genger, and Heather Rowe to name a few. Contemporary art is also featured in 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park, which is unique in its inclusion of commissioned works by emerging mid-career artists. Since 2007, the IMA has committed to building a modern design collection that illustrates the artistic merits of utilitarian objects. The focus on international contemporary design, combined with the opening of the Miller House in 2011, is expected to reposition the museum as an authority on design.
, preserve, and interpret," encouraging the IMA and other institutions to instead "gather, steward
, and converse" in a way that increases accountability
and responsiveness. The IMA's collecting and deaccessioning practices have reflected this perspective, utilizing technology to provide public access, openness, and transparency in museum operations. Unveiled in March 2009, the museum's online deaccession database lists every object being deaccessioned and links new acquisitions to the sold objects that provided funds for their purchase. The IMA has been praised for being the first among museums to openly share their deaccessioning practices and for including the ability to post public comments on entries in the searchable database. The IMA also developed the Association of Art Museum Director's (AAMD) Object Registry, a database that helps museums more easily abide by the 1970 UNESCO
ruling that prevents illicit trafficking of antiquities. Since 2003, the IMA has systematically researched the provenance
of artworks created before 1946 and acquired after 1932.
Memorial Exhibition, to be brought to Indianapolis. The exhibition, also referred to as the Saint-Gaudens Memorial Exhibition of Statuary, attracted 56,000 visitors during its three month run, well beyond the board's goal of attracting 50,000 visitors. A 1937 exhibition, Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, included loans from the Cincinnati Art Museum
, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
, and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. The six week exhibition presented 65 pieces, including several Rembrandts, and was considered the beginning of the museum's rise to connoisseurship.
In 1977, the IMA acquired a collection of Neo-Impressionist paintings from Indianapolis industrialist W.J. Holliday, which was presented in an exhibition in 1983 titled The Aura of Neo-Impressionism: The W.J. Holliday Collection. From 1986 to 1988, the exhibit traveled to seven cities in the United States and made one stop in Europe at the Van Gogh Museum
in Amsterdam. Opening in the summer of 1987 to coincide with the Pan American Games
, Art of the Fantastic: Latin America, 1920–1987 presented 125 works by artists from a variety of nations. Well-known artists such as Frida Kahlo
and Roberto Matta
were featured, as well as artists who had never exhibited outside their native country. The show was the first large-scale presentation of 20th century Latin American art in the United States in over 20 years and was the museum's first contemporary exhibition to travel.
In 1992, the IMA hosted the The William S. Paley Collection, a traveling exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art
that included Impressionist
, Post-Impressionist
, and modern
pieces collected by the late CBS
news chairman William S. Paley
. The exhibit helped establish the IMA as a prominent museum venue in the Midwest and brought in a record-setting 60,837 visitors. In 2001, the IMA collaborated with the Armory Museum
in Moscow to organize Gifts to the Tsars, 1500–1700: Treasures from the Kremlin. The show helped the IMA form partnerships with local arts organizations, gain international exposure, and attracted a record 70,704 visitors. Another important exhibit to travel to the IMA was Roman Art from the Louvre, which attracted 106,002 visitors during its 2008 run. The exhibition featured 184 mosaic
s, fresco
es, statues, marble reliefs, and vessels loaned from the permanent collection of the Louvre in Paris, France
. It was the largest collection ever loaned from the Louvre to date, and only stopped in three U.S. cities before returning to France.
In 2009, Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World brought together 71 works of art from a wide variety of lenders, including Peru
, Mexico
, and the Prado in Spain. The exhibit was composed of a rare collection of pieces, many of which had never been on view in the United States. It featured paintings, sculpture, metalwork, and books by artists such as El Greco
, Diego Velázquez
, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
. Andy Warhol Enterprises was displayed at the IMA from October, 2010 to January, 2011 and featured more than 150 works of art by Andy Warhol
, as well as archival materials. The exhibition was the largest to illustrate Warhol's fascination with money and feature consumerism as a central theme. Visitors were able to view the progression of Warhol's career, from his beginnings as a commercial artist to his multi-million dollar empire.
and Mathias Bengtsson. Three prominent modes of design emerged from 1985–2005 and could be seen in the exhibition: Geometric Minimal design, Biomorphic
design and Neo-Pop
design. Among the themes addressed throughout the exhibition was the question of what makes something "art" and how to distinguish a museum quality piece in a world full of mass-produced products. Rather than organizing the exhibition by designer or country, the pieces were organized based on the intellectual or philosophical precept under which they fell. After leaving the IMA, the exhibition traveled to the High Museum of Art
in Atlanta, Georgia and the Milwaukee Art Museum
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial, on display from February to September 2011, includes over 70 large-scale artworks and is the largest assemblage of Thornton Dial
's work ever mounted. The exhibition contextualizes Dial as a relevant, contemporary art
ist rather than a folk art
ist or outsider art
ist as many have portrayed him in the past. The pieces on view in Hard Truths cover a range of social and political themes, many of which address rural life in the south and the treatment of African Americans. After departing Indianapolis, the exhibition is scheduled to travel to New Orleans, Louisiana
, Charlotte, North Carolina
and Atlanta, Georgia
.
(Biennale di Venezia). Lisa Freiman, senior curator and chair of the IMA's department of contemporary art, is currently organizing the exhibition and serving as the commissioner of the U.S. pavilion. The IMA's proposal to create an exhibition featuring the work of Puerto Rican
artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla
was accepted by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department. Allora and Calzadilla are the first collaborative team to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and 2011 was the first time American artists from a Spanish-speaking community were selected. Six new works of art will be developed by the pair, who often explore geopolitical themes through their work. The pieces they will create for the 2011 U.S. Pavilion will form an exhibition entitled Gloria and will highlight competitive institutions such as the Olympic Games
, the military, and international commerce. Allora and Calzadilla also plan to bring elements of performance into their multimedia pieces through the participation of Olympic athletes. Three of the six pieces, entitled Body in Flight (Delta), Body in Flight (American), and Track and Field, will feature Olympians Dan O'Brien
, Chellsie Memmel
, and David Durante
.
balls
, and related activities in order to raise funds for the museum. Major gifts included a $350,000 contribution in 1979 toward the $40 million centennial endowment campaign and a $500,000 contribution toward the IMA's 1990 expansion. By 2007 the Alliance had provided purchase funds for over 300 works of art. The Contemporary Art Society was formed in 1962 to acquire contemporary art
for the museum's permanent collection. In 1963, the first major acquisition consisted of 65 works. The Horticultural Society was founded in 1972 to contribute to the care and education of the museum's gardens and grounds, raising $65,000 in 1989 toward the restoration of Oldfields' gardens. In the late 1970s the Second Century Society and the Print and Drawing Society were both formed. The Second Century Society, later known as the IMA Council, was founded to celebrate donations of $1,000 or more to the museum's annual operating fund, attracting more than 200 contributors during its inaugural year. In 1979, the Print and Drawing Society exhibited 70 artworks spanning 500 years in their first exhibit, The Print and Drawing Society Collections. By the late 1980s the museum had expanded its affiliate program to include the Decorative Arts Society, the Asian Arts Society, the Ethnographic Arts Society, and the Fashion Arts Society.
initiative that reduced natural gas consumption by 48 percent and electricity consumption by 19 percent, the IMA became the first fine art museum to be named an Energy Star partner in 2008. As of 2010, the IMA was one of only 11 museums to receive this recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency. The museum instituted a "greening committee" to organize a variety of efforts to maintain environmental stewardship, a primary component of the institution's mission.
In 2009 the IMA was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, one of 10 institutions to receive this annual distinction by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
(IMLS). The IMA was recognized for serving its community through a number of programs, including Viewfinders, a school program that serves 9,000 local students a year. IMLS also cited the IMA's free admission, greening and sustainability initiatives, efforts to reach virtual audiences, and improvements in accessibility throughout the museum.
, communication skills, and visual literacy
. The museum's emphasis on online engagement has led to educational tools such as ArtBabble, a video portal for art museum content. Davis Lab, located within the museum next to the Pulliam Great Hall, is a space where visitors can virtually browse the museum's collection and experiment with new technology. In addition to its focus on technology and school outreach, the museum provides classes, lectures, and film series, as well as ongoing tours of the collections, historic properties, and grounds. Other programming includes the Star Studio, a space for drop-in art making where visitors, along with museum staff, carry out projects inspired by museum exhibitions.
From 1946 until 1981, the Indianapolis Junior League provided volunteers and monetary support for the museum's docent program. In 1981, the museum began its own docent training program, which continues to serve a large number of volunteer docents through classes and training. As of 2009 over 500 individuals volunteer at the IMA.
on videos produced by the museum, large print binders for exhibits, accessible seating and sign language interpretation in Tobias Theater, and wheelchair-accessible trails in 100 Acres. The museum also maintains partnerships with the Indiana School for the Deaf
and the Indiana School for the Blind
. In 1993 the IMA opened the Garden for Everyone, a wheelchair-accessible garden designed to emphasize multiple senses. The garden includes varieties of fragrant and textured plants as well as a number of sculptures, including La Hermana del Hombre Boveda by Pablo Serrano.
and now located at Indiana University
, the Wishard Memorial Hospital
murals, the Otto Stark
and Clifton Wheeler murals in Indianapolis Public School
54, and most recently the restoration of the May Wright Sewall Memorial Torches at Herron High School
, the former site of the John Herron Art Institute.
Currently, the conservation department serves the needs of the museum through the expertise of specialists in paintings, textiles, works on paper, frames, and objects conservation. The department has grown in both size and staff throughout the years, with the most recent expansion occurring in 2007. As of 2007, the IMA owned one of the few computer-based X-ray units in the United States, continuing a trend in X-ray technology that the department began in the 1970s. In 1980, the department helped organize and establish the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild
, which includes conservators and conservation scientists from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. In the mid-1980s, the department received attention when head conservator Martin Radecki assisted local authorities in uncovering over two dozen forged T.C. Steele and William Forsythe paintings worth more than $200,000. The high profile forgery case led Radecki to organize an exhibit in 1989, Is it Genuine? Steele, Forsythe and Forgery in Indiana. The exhibit highlighted conservation techniques and examined how forgeries can be discovered. Another public presentation of conservation took place in 2007 with Sebastiano Mainardi: The Science of Art, a Star Studio exhibit that allowed visitors to watch conservators as they worked on the 16th-century altarpiece. The IMA's Star Studio is an interactive gallery that enables visitors to learn, through the process of art-making and observation, about the museum's collections.
In February 2010, the IMA shifted from current environmental control standards within their exhibition spaces, allowing temperature and humidity fluctuation of a few degrees on either side of the suggested standard. Director and CEO Maxwell Anderson had been involved in discussions with the Bizot Group of museum directors in which the scientific validity of the current standard was called into question. The IMA relinquished the standard after concluding that the majority of artworks could sustain a greater range of humidity, so permitting the museum to save on the cost of energy bills and reduce its carbon footprint.
to be used toward the creation of a state-of-the-art conservation science
lab. Through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Dr. Gregory Dale Smith was hired in October 2009 to lead the lab as its senior conservation scientist. A main focus of the lab is the conservation of newer objects in the IMA's collection, such as couture
fashion in the textile collection and objects made of synthetic
materials in the design collection. Another focus is scientific research on materials found in the collections, such as resins and dyes on African art pieces and glazes on Asian ceramics. Through the addition of the lab, the IMA aims to establish itself as an internationally-recognized conservation center and to increase its potential as a training and professional development resource in conservation science.
and to provide consulting services to museums and nonprofit organizations that want to use technology to help solve problems and meet objectives. IMA Lab projects include TAP, steve.museum
, and the IMA Dashboard. TAP is a mobile tour application
for iPod Touch
that presents visitors with content related to the IMA's collection, such as artist interviews, text and audio files, and pictures. Steve.museum, for which IMA Lab is the technical lead, is a project that explores social tagging as a new way to describe collections and make them more accessible. The IMA Dashboard is a feature of the IMA website that provides real-time information about the museum's operations, including the size of its endowment
, the objects it has marked for deaccession, and the amount of daily energy the museum consumes.
, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art
, and the The New York Public Library are some of the 30 worldwide partners who contribute content. ArtBabble was a showcase project for the National Summit on Arts Journalism and was chosen "Best Overall" Best of the Web winner at Museums and the Web 2010
.
. With the $100,000, one-year contract, the museum will manage the Indianapolis Airport Authority's art collection, which includes 40 works currently on display in the passenger terminal of the Indianapolis International Airport
.
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, United States. The museum, which underwent a $74 million expansion in 2005, is located on a 152 acre (0.61512272 km²) campus on the near northwest area outside downtown Indianapolis, northwest of Crown Hill Cemetery
Crown Hill Cemetery
Crown Hill Cemetery, located at 700 West 38th Street in Indianapolis, is the third largest non-governmental cemetery in the United States at . It contains of paved road, over 150 species of trees and plants, over 185,000 graves, and services roughly 1,500 burials per year. It sits on the highest...
.
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is the ninth oldest and eighth largest encyclopedic art museum in the United States. The permanent collection comprises over 54,000 works, including African, American, Asian, and European pieces. Significant areas of the collection include: Neo-Impressionist
Neo-impressionism
Neo-impressionism was coined by French art critic Félix Fénéon in 1886 to describe an art movement founded by Georges Seurat. Seurat’s greatest masterpiece, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, marked the beginning of this movement when it first made its appearance at an exhibition...
paintings; Japanese paintings of the Edo period
Edo period
The , or , is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate....
; Chinese ceramics and bronzes; paintings, sculptures, and prints by Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
and the Pont-Aven School
Pont-Aven School
Pont-Aven School is a term occupied by works of art iconographically due to Pont-Aven and its surroundings. Originally the term was focusing works of the artists' colony emerging there since the 1850s, and some decades later the work of the group of painters gathering around the artist Paul...
; a large number of works by J.M.W. Turner; and a growing contemporary art collection. Other areas of emphasis include textiles and fashion arts as well as a recent focus on modern design.
In addition to its collections, the museum consists of 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park; Oldfields
Oldfields
Oldfields also known as Lilly House and Gardens, is a 26 acre historic estate and house museum on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. The estate, an example of the American country house movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was...
, a restored American Country Place era estate once owned by Josiah K. Lilly, Jr.; and restored gardens and grounds originally designed by Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted Brothers firm
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was an influential landscape design firm in the United States, formed in 1898 by stepbrothers John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. .-History:...
. The IMA also owns the Miller House
Miller House (Columbus, Indiana)
The Miller House, also known as Miller House and Garden, is a Mid-Century modern home designed by Eero Saarinen and located in Columbus, Indiana, United States. The residence, commissioned by American industrialist, philanthropist, and architecture patron J. Irwin Miller and his wife Xenia Simons...
, a Mid-Century modern
Mid-century modern
Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design form that generally describes mid-20th century developments in modern design, architecture, and urban development from roughly 1933 to 1965...
home designed by Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
and located in Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, Indiana
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 44,061 at the 2010 census, and the current mayor is Fred Armstrong. Located approximately 40 miles south of Indianapolis, on the east fork of the White River, it is the state's 20th largest...
. The museum's holdings demonstrate the institution's emphasis on the connections among art, design, and the natural environment.
Founded in 1883 by the Art Association of Indianapolis, the first permanent museum was opened in 1906 as part of the John Herron Art Institute. In 1969, the Art Association of Indianapolis changed its name to the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and in 1970 the museum moved to its current location at Michigan Road and 38th Street north of downtown Indianapolis. Among the Art Association's founders was May Wright Sewall
May Wright Sewall
May Wright Sewall was an American feminist, educator, and lecturer. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. In 1866, she earned a bachelor's degree, and in 1868 she earned a master's degree, both from North Western Female College. In 1872, Sewall married Edwin W. Thompson and...
(1844–1920), known for her work in the women's suffrage movement. Other supporters have included Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
(1869–1946), Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly (industrialist)
Eli Lilly was a pharmaceutical industrialist and philanthropist from Indiana, United States.- Business :Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Eli Lilly was President of Eli Lilly and Company. He was named for his grandfather, Colonel Eli Lilly, who founded the family business...
(1885–1977), Herman C. Krannert
Herman C. Krannert
Herman C. Krannert was a businessman and philanthropist in the Midwest. He was married to Ellnora Decker Krannert. He was a successful entrepreneur who made millions in the corrugated fiber products industry and made generous contributions to education and the arts in the Midwest...
(1887–1972), and Caroline Marmon Fesler (1878–1960). The associated John Herron Art Institute was established with the help of notable Hoosier Group
Hoosier Group
The Hoosier Group was a group of Indiana Impressionist painters working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They are primarily known for their renditions of the Indiana landscape. Artists considered members of this group include T. C. Steele, Richard Gruelle, William Forsyth, J. Ottis...
artists T. C. Steele
T. C. Steele
Theodore Clement Steele was an American Impressionist painter known for his Indiana landscapes.Theodore Steele's paintings are in many public collections, including those of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Indiana University Art Museum in Bloomington,...
and William Forsyth
William Forsyth (artist)
William J. Forsyth was an American Impressionist painter who was part of the "Hoosier Group" of Indiana artists.Forsyth was the first student of the Indiana School of Art in Indianapolis and entered the Munich Academy along with T. C. Steele and J. Ottis Adams in 1882...
.
Maxwell L. Anderson
Maxwell L. Anderson
Maxwell L. Anderson is the Melvin & Bren Simon Director and CEO of the Indianapolis Museum of Art in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. On January 9, 2012, Anderson will assume the role of the Eugene McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, following a five-and-a-half-year tenure at the...
has served as the Melvin and Bren Simon Director and CEO since 2006. The museum is widely recognized as innovative in its development of open source technologies, institutional transparency, and collaboration between museums. In 2008, the IMA became the first fine art museum to be named an Energy Star
Energy Star
Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products originated in the United States of America. It was first created as a United States government program during the early 1990s, but Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan and the European Union have also adopted...
partner due to its greening initiative and efforts to reduce energy consumption. In 2009, the IMA was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service for public service, specifically the museum's free admission policy and educational programming.
History
The Indianapolis Museum of Art was founded as the Art Association of Indianapolis, an open-membership group led by the suffragist May Wright SewallMay Wright Sewall
May Wright Sewall was an American feminist, educator, and lecturer. She was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States. In 1866, she earned a bachelor's degree, and in 1868 she earned a master's degree, both from North Western Female College. In 1872, Sewall married Edwin W. Thompson and...
. Formed in 1883, the organization aimed to inform the public about visual art and provide art education. The Art Association's first exhibition, which opened November 7, 1883, contained 453 artworks from 137 artists. The death of wealthy Indianapolis resident John Herron in 1895 left a substantial bequest with the stipulation that the money be used for a gallery and a school with his name. The John Herron Art Institute opened in 1902 at the corner of 16th and Pennsylvania street. Emphasis on the Arts and Crafts Movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
grew throughout the early years of the school, with a focus on applied art. William Henry Fox was hired in 1905 as the Art Institute's first director. From 1905 to 1910, Fox managed both the museum and the school while constructing two new buildings on the 16th street site.
From the 1930s until the 1950s, the John Herron Art Institute placed an emphasis on professionalism and growth in collections. Wilbur Peat, director of the museum from 1929 until 1965, acquired significant portions of the collection. Peat also made connections with benefactors such as Dr. George H. A. Clowes, Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington
Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams...
, and Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly was the founder of Eli Lilly and Company.Eli Lilly may also refer to:* Eli Lilly and Company, a global pharmaceutical company...
. Caroline Marmon Fesler, president of the Art Association of Indianapolis, gave a number of artworks in the 1940s including 20th century modern artworks and Post-Impressionist works by Cézanne, Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, and Seurat. After years of debate surrounding expansion and relocation of the museum and school, the great grandchildren of Eli Lilly, J.K. Lilly III and Ruth Lilly
Ruth Lilly
Ruth Lilly was an American philanthropist. She was the daughter of Josiah K. Lilly, Jr., and Ruth Lilly, and the sole living heiress to the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical fortune built by her great grandfather, Colonel Eli Lilly.Lilly made headlines in November 2002 when she pledged stock...
, donated the family estate, Oldfields, to the Art Association of Indianapolis in 1966. One year later it was decided that the school would become a part of Indiana University's Indianapolis campus in an effort to assist with accreditation. That same year it was confirmed that the museum would relocate to Oldfields, with the new Krannert Pavilion opening to the public in October 1970. In 1969, prior to moving to the new site, the Art Association of Indianapolis officially changed its name to the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
Construction and renovation
In 1960, Art Association of Indianapolis board members began discussing the idea of placing the museum at the center of a new cultural campus. Inspired by University CircleUniversity Circle
University Circle, is a neighborhood located on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. It is best known for its world-class cultural, educational and medical institutions, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Museum of Art, Lakeview Cemetery, and University...
in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, board chairman Herman Krannert proposed building an "Acropolitan Area" that would combine a number of cultural institutions in a natural setting. The museum's location on the grounds of Oldfields allowed architect Ambrose Madison Richardson to build on the idea of an acropolis
Acropolis
Acropolis means "high city" in Greek, literally city on the extremity and is usually translated into English as Citadel . For purposes of defense, early people naturally chose elevated ground to build a new settlement, frequently a hill with precipitous sides...
while also utilizing the natural features of the site. Krannert Pavilion opened in 1970 as the first of four buildings located on the museum's grounds. Following the opening of Krannert, the expansion continued with the Clowes Pavilion in 1972, which housed the Clowes' collection of Old Masters'
Old Master
"Old Master" is a term for a European painter of skill who worked before about 1800, or a painting by such an artist. An "old master print" is an original print made by an artist in the same period...
. Construction on the Showalter Pavilion and Sutphin Fountain was completed in 1973. In 1986 Edward Larrabee Barnes
Edward Larrabee Barnes
Edward Larrabee Barnes was a American architect.Barnes was born in Chicago, Illinois into a family he described as "incense-swinging High Episcopalians", consisting of Cecil Barnes, a lawyer, and Margaret Helen Ayer, recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for the novel Year of Grace...
was chosen to design the Hulman Pavilion, a new wing of the museum which housed the Eiteljorg collection of African
African art
African art constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of people, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. The definition also includes the art of the African...
and South Pacific Art. The pavilion opened in 1990 and increased the exhibition space to more than 80000 square feet (7,432.2 m²). The expansion aimed to provide clearer chronological continuity and a more coherent flow as visitors moved from one gallery to the next.
From the mid 1990s until 2005 the IMA focused on the next phase of development, the "New Vision", or what became known as the "New IMA." After four years of restoration, the Oldfields mansion reopened to the public in June 2002 and was designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2003. In 2005 the museum completed a three year, $74 million renovation and expansion project that added three new wings and 50 percent more gallery space to the building. In all, the construction added 164000 square feet (15,236.1 m²) to the museum, in addition to the renovation of 90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²) of existing space. Renovations included the Hulman and Clowes Pavilions, which house the museum's European collection, as well as the addition of the Allen Whitehill Clowes Gallery. The expansion aimed to unify the building and campus while creating a more welcoming atmosphere for visitors. As one of three new wings and as a new entry to the building, the Efroymson Pavilion helped to transition visitors between the museum and the surrounding grounds. The Wood Gallery Pavilion added three levels of gallery space as well as a dining area and education suite, while the Deer Zink Pavilion added additional space for private and public events. The architectural focus on welcoming visitors coincided with a new advertising campaign that reached out to a broader, more diverse audience.
Museum grounds
The 152 acre (0.61512272 km²) grounds of the IMA contain distinctive features that have been modified over time to create a greater connection between the museum building and its surroundings. The Oldfields estate has been described as a GesamtkunstwerkGesamtkunstwerk
A Gesamtkunstwerk is a work of art that makes use of all or many art forms or strives to do so...
, a unified work of art that combines the arts of landscape design
Landscape design
Landscape design is an independent profession and a design and art tradition, practised by landscape designers, combining nature and culture. In contemporary practice landscape design bridges between landscape architecture and garden design.-Design scope:...
, gardening
Gardening
Gardening is the practice of growing and cultivating plants. Ornamental plants are normally grown for their flowers, foliage, or overall appearance; useful plants are grown for consumption , for their dyes, or for medicinal or cosmetic use...
, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
, interior design
Interior design
Interior design describes a group of various yet related projects that involve turning an interior space into an effective setting for the range of human activities are to take place there. An interior designer is someone who conducts such projects...
, and decorative arts. In addition to the restored gardens and grounds of Oldfields, other notable areas of the grounds include the Sutphin Mall and Fountain, the wheelchair accessible Garden for Everyone, and a working greenhouse and shop. The IMA grounds are also home to 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park, located behind the museum proper. Garden areas make use of existing features in the natural landscape and incorporate examples of public art, both historical and contemporary.
100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park
June 20, 2010 marked the official opening of a large-scale outdoor project undertaken by the IMA. Formerly a gravel pit, 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park now encompasses a diverse landscape, including wooded areas, wetlands, open fields, a lake and a series of hiking trails that guide visitors past site-specific works of contemporary art. 100 Acres is one of the largest art parks in the country and is the only park to feature an ongoing commission of temporary works. The first eight artists selected to create site-responsive pieces were Atelier Van Lieshout, Kendall Buster, Alfredo JaarAlfredo Jaar
Alfredo Jaar is a Chilean-born artist, architect, and filmmaker who lives in New York. He was born in 1956 in Santiago de Chile. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography and covering socio-political issues and war - the best known perhaps being the 6-year long...
, Jeppe Hein
Jeppe Hein
Jeppe Hein is an artist based in Berlin and Copenhagen. Hein is widely known for his production of experiential and interactive artworks that can be positioned at the junction where art, architecture, and technical inventions intersect...
, Los Carpinteros
Los Carpinteros
Los Carpinteros is the name of a group of young Cuban artists that specializes in creating humorous installations and objects. In 1991 Marco Antonio Castillo Valdes, Dagoberto Rodriguez Sanchez, and Alexandre Arrechea formed Los Carpinteros—however they didn’t adopt the name until 1994, “deciding...
, Tea Makipaa
Tea Mäkipää
Tea Mäkipää is a Finnish artist known for her installations, architectural works and videos. She earned a BA in Fine Art, from the Academy of Fine Arts , Helsinki and an MA from the Royal College of Art in London...
, Type A, and Andrea Zittel
Andrea Zittel
Andrea Zittel is an American practicing sculptor, installation artist, and Relational artist.-Early Life:Born in Escondido, California in 1965, Zittel graduated from San Pasqual High School in 1983...
. These works, along with an LEED certified visitor center, are linked by a variety of walking trails.
The next commissioned work for 100 Acres will premier in September 2011 and will include a series of installations along the White River
White River (Indiana)
The White River is a two-forked river that flows through central and southern Indiana and is the main tributary to the Wabash River. Via the west fork, considered to be the main stem of the river by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, the White River is long.-West Fork:The West Fork, long, is...
by artist Mary Miss. The artist will be working with local universities, environmental organizations, and government agencies to create FLOW (Can You See the River?). The piece will consist of various collaborative public art installations along Indianapolis' Central Canal and the White River, inviting visitors to become more aware of issues related to the health of the river and the city's water supply.
Oldfields: Lilly House & gardens
Oldfields is a 26 acres (105,218.4 m²) historic estate and house museum on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The gardens and grounds were restored by the museum in the 1990s. Together with the restoration of the mansion in 2002, Oldfields is now a rare example of a surviving American Country Place Era estate. The estate was designated a U.S. National Historic LandmarkNational Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2003. Oldfields was built between 1910 and 1913 by architect Lewis Ketcham Davis for the family of Hugh McKennan Landon, who occupied the home from 1913 until 1932 when it was sold to J.K. Lilly, Jr.
Josiah K. Lilly Jr.
Josiah Kirby Lilly, Jr. was a pharmaceutical industrialist and President of Eli Lilly and Company from 1948 to 1953. Lilly, a 1914 graduate of the school of pharmacy at the University of Michigan, was the last family member to run the company. He was named for his father, Josiah K. Lilly, Sr.,...
Lilly, the late Indianapolis businessman, collector, and philanthropist, renovated and expanded the estate throughout the 1930s and 1940s, updating interiors as well as adding a number of new buildings to the grounds. The 22-room mansion has undergone historic restoration
Building restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
and is currently interpreted to reflect the 1930s era when the Lilly family occupied the residence. In addition to the home's significance as a representation of the American country house movement, Oldfields' gardens and grounds are a rare example of a preserved estate landscape designed by Percival Gallagher of the Olmsted Brothers firm.
Miller House and gardens
The Miller House is a Mid-Century modernMid-century modern
Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design form that generally describes mid-20th century developments in modern design, architecture, and urban development from roughly 1933 to 1965...
home designed by Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen
Eero Saarinen was a Finnish American architect and industrial designer of the 20th century famous for varying his style according to the demands of the project: simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism.-Biography:Eero Saarinen shared the same birthday as his father,...
and located in Columbus, Indiana
Columbus, Indiana
Columbus is a city in and the county seat of Bartholomew County, Indiana, United States. The population was 44,061 at the 2010 census, and the current mayor is Fred Armstrong. Located approximately 40 miles south of Indianapolis, on the east fork of the White River, it is the state's 20th largest...
. The residence was commissioned by American industrialist, philanthropist, and architecture patron J. Irwin Miller
J. Irwin Miller
Joseph Irwin Miller was an American industrialist, patron of modern architecture, and lay leader in the Christian ecumenical movement and civil rights...
and his wife Xenia Simons Miller in 1953. Design and construction on the Miller House took four years and was completed in 1957. The home was declared a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
in 2000. In 2009, the home and gardens, along with many of the original furnishings, were donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art by the Miller family. In addition to Eero Saarinen, the house and gardens showcases the work of leading 20th-century figures such as interior designer Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard
Alexander Girard affectionately known as Sandro, was an architect and a textile designer born in New York City to an American mother from Boston and a French-Italian father. He was raised in Florence, Italy...
, landscape architect Dan Kiley
Dan Kiley
Daniel Urban Kiley was a noted American landscape architect in the modernist style.- Life and career :Kiley was born in Boston, Massachusetts...
, and principal design associate at the Saarinen office, Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche is an Irish-American architect known for his creative work with glass.Born in Dublin, Roche spent his formative years in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork before he graduated from University College Dublin in 1945. He then worked with Michael Scott from 1945-1946...
.
Westerley
Located just south of the museum in the Golden Hill neighborhood, Westerley is the former home of Dr. George H. A. Clowes and wife Edith, and their son, Allen Clowes. Designed by architect Frederick Wallick and built in 1922, the four-story home consists of 20 rooms as well as a carriage houseCarriage house
A carriage house, also called remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack.In Great Britain the farm building was called a Cart Shed...
, a greenhouse, and the surrounding grounds. Allen Clowes died in 2000 and bequeathed the estate to the museum, intending it to serve as an event space and the home for the IMA director. In 2006 the estate underwent a $2-million renovation, with a major gift of $800,000 by the Allen Whitehill Clowes Foundation and an anonymous donor. The renovation was headed by Indianapolis-based architects Rowland Design, construction company Shiel Sexton, and interior designer Jacqueline Anderson
Jacqueline Anderson
Jacqueline Buckingham Anderson is an American actress and entrepreneur. She is best known for her supporting roles in Half-Baked, Intimate affairs, and A Touch of Fate, her lead role in the movie Sleepless Nights ...
, who is the wife of IMA director Maxwell Anderson. Currently, the first floor and grounds remain a space for museum events, while the Anderson family lives on the second and third floors. Westerley historically served as a venue for the Clowes family to showcase their fine art collection, which eventually became the foundation for the IMA's early European collection. Upon the renovation, Jacqueline Anderson chose to continue the display of selected Clowes' pieces alongside the couple's collection of contemporary art.
Collections
The Indianapolis Museum of Art has a permanent collection of over 54,000 works that represent cultures from around the world and span over 5,000 years. Areas of the collection include: European painting and sculpture; American paintingAmerican Art
American Art is the debut album of the band Weatherbox. It was released on May 8, 2007 on Doghouse Records. The album received critical acclaim from several sources including underground music distribution company Smartpunk, who lauded the band's style:...
and sculpture; prints
Old master print
An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition . A date of about 1830 is usually taken as marking the end of the period whose prints are covered by this term. The main techniques concerned are woodcut, engraving and etching, although there are...
, drawings, and photographs; Asian art
Asian art
Asian art can refer to art amongst many cultures in Asia.-Various types of Asian art:*Afghan art*Azerbaijanian art*Balinese art*Bhutanese art*Buddhist art*Burmese contemporary art*Chinese art*Eastern art*Indian art*Iranian art*Islamic art...
; art of Africa
African art
African art constitutes one of the most diverse legacies on earth. Though many casual observers tend to generalize "traditional" African art, the continent is full of people, societies, and civilizations, each with a unique visual special culture. The definition also includes the art of the African...
, the South Pacific, and the Americas
Native American art
Visual arts by indigenous peoples of the Americas encompasses the visual artistic traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas from ancient times to the present...
; ancient art of the Mediterranean; Design Arts; textile and fashion arts; and contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
. The museum holds a significant collection of Neo-Impressionist paintings and prints, many of which were gifted in 1977 by local industrialist W.J. Holliday. Combined with the Neo-Impressionist collection is the Samuel Josefowitz Collection of Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven, which includes highlights such as Bretons in a Ferryboat by Emile Bernard
Émile Bernard
Émile Henri Bernard is known as a Post-Impressionist painter who had artistic friendships with Van Gogh, Gauguin and Eugene Boch, and at a later time, Cézanne. Most of his notable work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897. He is also associated with Cloisonnism and...
. The IMA also holds a large collection of works by J.M.W. Turner, containing highlights such as the 1820 watercolor, Rosslyn Castle. The collection, which was formed by a substantial donation by philanthropist Kurt Pantzer in 1979, includes over fifty watercolors, as well as oil paintings, prints, and etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
s.
The European collection, which is organized into works before 1800 and works from 1800–1945, includes highlights such as Aristotle by Jusepe de Ribera and The Flageolet Player on the Cliff by Paul Gauguin. Rembrandt's Self-Portrait is part of the Clowes Fund Collection, which comprises a number of significant Old Masters pieces. Part of the Neo-Impressionist collection, The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe by Georges Seurat was one of the first works to be donated by Caroline Marmon Fesler in the 1940s. Fesler would go on to donate a number of important works, including her bequest in 1961 of notable 20th century modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
pieces that included Pablo Picasso
Pablo 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...
, Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
, and 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...
. Pieces in the American collection represent American Impressionism and Modernism, including works by Georgia O'Keefe and George Inness
George Inness
George Inness was an American landscape painter; born in Newburgh, New York; died at Bridge of Allan in Scotland. His work was influenced, in turn, by that of the old masters, the Hudson River school, the Barbizon school, and, finally, by the theology of Emanuel Swedenborg, whose spiritualism...
. Significant pieces include Hotel Lobby
Hotel Lobby
Hotel Lobby is an oil painting on canvas by American realist painter Edward Hopper, which is held in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art , in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.-Description:...
(1943) by Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper
Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...
and Boat Builders
Boat Builders (painting)
The Boat Builders is an oil painting on panel by American landscape painter Winslow Homer, which is held in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art , in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States.-Description:...
by Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th century America and a preeminent figure in American art....
.
The museum has a substantial Asian art collection, with more than 5,000 pieces spanning 4,000 years. Most notable is the IMA's acclaimed collection of Japanese Edo Period paintings, scrolls, and screens
Folding Screen
A folding screen , is a piece of free-standing furniture which consists of several frames or panels connected by hinges. It can be made in a variety of designs and with different kinds of materials. Screens have many practical and decorative uses...
. Highlights include A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines, a Ming Dynasty work by Wu Bin
Wu Bin (painter)
Wu Bin was a Chinese landscape painter during the reign of the Ming Dynasty Wanli Emperor . His specific dates of birth and death are not known....
, and Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian Patriarchs, an Edo period panel by Kano Sanraku
Kano Sanraku
was a Japanese painter also known as Kimura Heizō, Shūri, Mitsuyori, and Sanraku.His father was the painter Kimura Nagamitsu who flourished circa 1570....
, in addition to a number of Chinese ceramics and bronzes that were donated by Eli Lilly in 1961. The IMA's collection is also made up of more than 2,000 pieces of African art and artifacts, 1,200 of which were donated by Harrison Eiteljorg in 1989. The IMA has expanded the collection to include both historical and contemporary objects from every major region of Africa, including Egypt. The museum is unique in its inclusive display of Islamic
Islamic art
Islamic art encompasses the visual arts produced from the 7th century onwards by people who lived within the territory that was inhabited by or ruled by culturally Islamic populations...
and ancient Egyptian
Culture of Egypt
The culture of Egypt has thousands of years of recorded history. Ancient Egypt was among the earliest civilizations. For millennia, Egypt maintained a strikingly complex and stable culture that influenced later cultures of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. After the Pharaonic era, Egypt itself...
works within the African gallery, rather than with Greek
Greek art
Greek art began in the Cycladic and Minoan prehistorical civilization, and gave birth to Western classical art in the ancient period...
or Roman
Roman art
Roman art has the visual arts made in Ancient Rome, and in the territories of the Roman Empire. Major forms of Roman art are architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work...
antiquities. Significant pieces include a female ancestor figure of the Senufo people and Magbo helmet mask for Oro association by master carver Onabanjo of Itu Meko.
The museum's textile and fashion art collection is made up of 7,000 items, including 20th century, custom-designed costumes by Givenchy
Givenchy
Givenchy is a French brand of clothing, accessories, perfumes and cosmetics with Parfums Givenchy.The house of Givenchy was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy and is a member of Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture et du Pret-a-Porter...
, Chanel
Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...
, and Balmain
Pierre Balmain
Pierre Alexandre Claudius Balmain was a French fashion designer. Known for sophistication and elegance, he once said that "dressmaking is the architecture of movement."...
. The collection includes a number of the world's fabric traditions, including African textiles donated by sisters Eliza and Sarah Niblack between 1916 and 1933 and a significant collection of Baluchi
Baloch people
The Baloch or Baluch are an ethnic group that belong to the larger Iranian peoples. Baluch people mainly inhabit the Balochistan region and Sistan and Baluchestan Province in the southeast corner of the Iranian plateau in Western Asia....
rugs. Based on the museum's early history of collecting textiles, items range from couture
Couture
-Places in France:* Couture, Charente, in the Charente département* Couture-d'Argenson, in the Deux-Sèvres département* Couture-sur-Loir, in the Loir-et-Cher département-People:* Randy Couture , American mixed martial arts fighter...
to silks and antique laces spanning 500 years. Some notable pieces include an Imperial Russian court dress by designer Charles Frederick Worth
Charles Frederick Worth
Charles Frederick Worth , widely considered the Father of Haute couture, was an English fashion designer of the 19th century, whose works were produced in Paris.-Career:...
and Bodhisattva of Wisdom (Mañjusri), a Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
silk panel. The museum's Design Arts collection is made up of European and American pieces from the Renaissance to the present. The collection includes Eliel Saarinen
Eliel Saarinen
Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was a Finnish architect who became famous for his art nouveau buildings in the early years of the 20th century....
's sideboard designed in 1929 for The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition The Architect and the Industrial Arts: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Design and the Bubbles chaise longue designed by Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
in 1979 for the Experimental Edges Series.
In recent years the IMA has begun to focus on developing its contemporary art collection, which includes works such as Two White Dots in the Air by Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder
Alexander Calder was an American sculptor and artist most famous for inventing mobile sculptures. In addition to mobile and stable sculpture, Alexander Calder also created paintings, lithographs, toys, tapestry, jewelry and household objects.-Childhood:Alexander "Sandy" Calder was born in Lawnton,...
and Light and Space III, a permanent installation by Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin
Robert Irwin may refer to:* Robert Irwin , Canadian politician* Robert Irwin , American installation artist* Robert Irwin , British historian, novelist and writer on Arabic literature...
located in the Pulliam Great Hall. Since 2007 the museum has featured site-specific
Site-specific art
Site-specific art is artwork created to exist in a certain place. Typically, the artist takes the location into account while planning and creating the artwork...
contemporary installations in the Efroymson Pavilion, rotating the temporary works every six months. The Efroymson Pavilion has featured works by artists such as William Lamson
William Lamson
William Lamson is an American Installation artist, Performance artist, and Generative artist. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York...
, Ball-Nogue Studio, Orly Genger, and Heather Rowe to name a few. Contemporary art is also featured in 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park, which is unique in its inclusion of commissioned works by emerging mid-career artists. Since 2007, the IMA has committed to building a modern design collection that illustrates the artistic merits of utilitarian objects. The focus on international contemporary design, combined with the opening of the Miller House in 2011, is expected to reposition the museum as an authority on design.
Transparency
Director and CEO Max Anderson has spoken of the need to shift away from museums that "collectCollection (museum)
A museum is distinguished by a collection of often unique objects that forms the core of its activities for exhibitions, education, research, etc. This differentiates it from an archive or library, where the contents may be more paper-based, replaceable and less exhibition oriented...
, preserve, and interpret," encouraging the IMA and other institutions to instead "gather, steward
Stewardship
Stewardship is an ethic that embodies responsible planning and management of resources. The concept of stewardship has been applied in diverse realms, including with respect to environment, economics, health, property, information, and religion, and is linked to the concept of sustainability...
, and converse" in a way that increases accountability
Accountability
Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving...
and responsiveness. The IMA's collecting and deaccessioning practices have reflected this perspective, utilizing technology to provide public access, openness, and transparency in museum operations. Unveiled in March 2009, the museum's online deaccession database lists every object being deaccessioned and links new acquisitions to the sold objects that provided funds for their purchase. The IMA has been praised for being the first among museums to openly share their deaccessioning practices and for including the ability to post public comments on entries in the searchable database. The IMA also developed the Association of Art Museum Director's (AAMD) Object Registry, a database that helps museums more easily abide by the 1970 UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
ruling that prevents illicit trafficking of antiquities. Since 2003, the IMA has systematically researched the provenance
Provenance
Provenance, from the French provenir, "to come from", refers to the chronology of the ownership or location of an historical object. The term was originally mostly used for works of art, but is now used in similar senses in a wide range of fields, including science and computing...
of artworks created before 1946 and acquired after 1932.
Exhibitions
In 1909 the Art Association campaigned for a major retrospective, the Augustus Saint-GaudensAugustus Saint-Gaudens
Augustus Saint-Gaudens was the Irish-born American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts generation who most embodied the ideals of the "American Renaissance"...
Memorial Exhibition, to be brought to Indianapolis. The exhibition, also referred to as the Saint-Gaudens Memorial Exhibition of Statuary, attracted 56,000 visitors during its three month run, well beyond the board's goal of attracting 50,000 visitors. A 1937 exhibition, Dutch Paintings of the Seventeenth Century, included loans from the Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of the oldest art museums in the United States. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies. Its collection of over 60,000 works make it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Midwest.Museum founders debated locating...
, the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, and the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. The six week exhibition presented 65 pieces, including several Rembrandts, and was considered the beginning of the museum's rise to connoisseurship.
In 1977, the IMA acquired a collection of Neo-Impressionist paintings from Indianapolis industrialist W.J. Holliday, which was presented in an exhibition in 1983 titled The Aura of Neo-Impressionism: The W.J. Holliday Collection. From 1986 to 1988, the exhibit traveled to seven cities in the United States and made one stop in Europe at the Van Gogh Museum
Van Gogh Museum
The Van Gogh Museum is an art museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, featuring the works of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and his contemporaries. It has the largest collection of Van Gogh's paintings and drawings in the world.-Background:...
in Amsterdam. Opening in the summer of 1987 to coincide with the Pan American Games
Pan American Games
The Pan-American or Pan American Games are a major event in the Americas featuring summer and formerly winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Pan American Games are the second largest multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics...
, Art of the Fantastic: Latin America, 1920–1987 presented 125 works by artists from a variety of nations. Well-known artists such as Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican painter, born in Coyoacán, and perhaps best known for her self-portraits....
and Roberto Matta
Roberto Matta
Roberto Sebastián Antonio Matta Echaurren , better known as Roberto Matta, was one of Chile's best-known painters and a seminal figure in 20th century abstract expressionist and surrealist art....
were featured, as well as artists who had never exhibited outside their native country. The show was the first large-scale presentation of 20th century Latin American art in the United States in over 20 years and was the museum's first contemporary exhibition to travel.
In 1992, the IMA hosted the The William S. Paley Collection, a traveling exhibition organized by the Museum of Modern Art
Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
that included Impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
, Post-Impressionist
Post-Impressionism
Post-Impressionism is the term coined by the British artist and art critic Roger Fry in 1910 to describe the development of French art since Manet. Fry used the term when he organized the 1910 exhibition Manet and Post-Impressionism...
, and modern
Modern art
Modern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
pieces collected by the late CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
news chairman William S. Paley
William S. Paley
William S. Paley was the chief executive who built Columbia Broadcasting System from a small radio network into one of the foremost radio and television network operations in the United States.-Early life:...
. The exhibit helped establish the IMA as a prominent museum venue in the Midwest and brought in a record-setting 60,837 visitors. In 2001, the IMA collaborated with the Armory Museum
Kremlin Armoury
The Kremlin Armory is one of the oldest museums of Moscow, established in 1808 and located in the Moscow Kremlin .The Kremlin Armoury originated as the royal arsenal in 1508. Until the transfer of the court to St Petersburg, the Armoury was in charge of producing, purchasing and storing weapons,...
in Moscow to organize Gifts to the Tsars, 1500–1700: Treasures from the Kremlin. The show helped the IMA form partnerships with local arts organizations, gain international exposure, and attracted a record 70,704 visitors. Another important exhibit to travel to the IMA was Roman Art from the Louvre, which attracted 106,002 visitors during its 2008 run. The exhibition featured 184 mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
s, fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es, statues, marble reliefs, and vessels loaned from the permanent collection of the Louvre in Paris, France
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. It was the largest collection ever loaned from the Louvre to date, and only stopped in three U.S. cities before returning to France.
In 2009, Sacred Spain: Art and Belief in the Spanish World brought together 71 works of art from a wide variety of lenders, including Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and the Prado in Spain. The exhibit was composed of a rare collection of pieces, many of which had never been on view in the United States. It featured paintings, sculpture, metalwork, and books by artists such as El Greco
El Greco
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
, Diego Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children...
. Andy Warhol Enterprises was displayed at the IMA from October, 2010 to January, 2011 and featured more than 150 works of art by 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...
, as well as archival materials. The exhibition was the largest to illustrate Warhol's fascination with money and feature consumerism as a central theme. Visitors were able to view the progression of Warhol's career, from his beginnings as a commercial artist to his multi-million dollar empire.
Traveling exhibitions
European Design since 1985: Shaping the New Century was displayed from March 8 to June 21, 2009 and was the first major survey of contemporary European Design. The exhibition contained a collection of nearly 250 pieces by Western European industrial and decorative designers such as Phillipe Starck, Marc NewsonMarc Newson
Marc Newson was born in Sydney, Australia. Now based in London, he is a successful industrial designer who works in aircraft design, product design, furniture design, jewellery, and clothing. He incorporates a design style known as biomorphism to his various designs...
and Mathias Bengtsson. Three prominent modes of design emerged from 1985–2005 and could be seen in the exhibition: Geometric Minimal design, Biomorphic
Biomorphism
Biomorphism is an art movement that began in the 20th century. It patterns artistic design elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature. Taken to its extreme it attempts to force naturally occurring shapes onto functional devices, often with mixed results.-History:The...
design and Neo-Pop
Neo-pop
Neo-pop is a postmodern art movement of the 1980s. The term refers to artists influenced by pop art, such as Jeff Koons and Sam Havadtoy in the USA. In the 2000s the work of Takashi Murakami in Japan and in 2009 the Arts project Nicolas Lepaulmier in French has also been described as neo-pop...
design. Among the themes addressed throughout the exhibition was the question of what makes something "art" and how to distinguish a museum quality piece in a world full of mass-produced products. Rather than organizing the exhibition by designer or country, the pieces were organized based on the intellectual or philosophical precept under which they fell. After leaving the IMA, the exhibition traveled to the High Museum of Art
High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
in Atlanta, Georgia and the Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum is located on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Beginning around 1872, multiple organizations were founded in order to bring an art gallery to Milwaukee, as the city was still a growing port town with little or no facilities to hold major art exhibitions...
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial, on display from February to September 2011, includes over 70 large-scale artworks and is the largest assemblage of Thornton Dial
Thornton Dial
Thornton Dial is an artist who came to prominence in the United States in the late 1980s. He was one of 12 children and grew up poor and without his father's presence in the family, and this poverty led him and his siblings to create toys from the discarded objects around them...
's work ever mounted. The exhibition contextualizes Dial as a relevant, contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
ist rather than a folk art
Folk art
Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic....
ist or outsider art
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
ist as many have portrayed him in the past. The pieces on view in Hard Truths cover a range of social and political themes, many of which address rural life in the south and the treatment of African Americans. After departing Indianapolis, the exhibition is scheduled to travel to New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
and Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
.
Venice Biennale
In 2010, the IMA was selected to be the commissioning organization for the United States pavilion at the Venice BiennaleVenice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
(Biennale di Venezia). Lisa Freiman, senior curator and chair of the IMA's department of contemporary art, is currently organizing the exhibition and serving as the commissioner of the U.S. pavilion. The IMA's proposal to create an exhibition featuring the work of Puerto Rican
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
artists Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla
Allora & Calzadilla
Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla are a collaborative duo of visual artists who live and work in San Juan, Puerto Rico...
was accepted by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department. Allora and Calzadilla are the first collaborative team to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale, and 2011 was the first time American artists from a Spanish-speaking community were selected. Six new works of art will be developed by the pair, who often explore geopolitical themes through their work. The pieces they will create for the 2011 U.S. Pavilion will form an exhibition entitled Gloria and will highlight competitive institutions such as the Olympic Games
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
, the military, and international commerce. Allora and Calzadilla also plan to bring elements of performance into their multimedia pieces through the participation of Olympic athletes. Three of the six pieces, entitled Body in Flight (Delta), Body in Flight (American), and Track and Field, will feature Olympians Dan O'Brien
Dan O'Brien
Daniel Dion O'Brien is a former American decathlete. He was deemed one of the best decathlon athletes of the 1990s, winning an Olympic gold medal after winning three consecutive world titles....
, Chellsie Memmel
Chellsie Memmel
Chellsie Marie Memmel is an American gymnast. She is the 2005 World All-Around Champion, making her the third American woman, after Kim Zmeskal and Shannon Miller, to become World Champion in the All-Around. She is also a World Champion on the uneven bars and as part of the U.S. team...
, and David Durante
David Durante
David Durante is an American artistic gymnast. He is the 2007 U.S. All-Around champion and was one of the three alternates to the 2008 Summer Olympics. He competed at the 2007 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and was a member of the 4th-place-finishing American team...
.
Administration
The Indianapolis Museum of Art is a 501(c)(3) corporation which is governed by director & CEO Maxwell Anderson, chairman Stephen Russell, three vice chairmen, a treasurer, secretary, and 21 additional board members. The museums endowment consists of approximately 120 individual funds devoted to building operations, bond costs, personnel expenses, legal fees and other purposes.Mission
Affiliates
The IMA has relied on affiliates to support and raise awareness about the museum's collections since the early 20th century. In 1919 the Friends of American Art was founded to support purchases for the Art Association of Indianapolis and Herron Museum. For two decades the Friends purchased 22 works of art for the collection, funded by members' annual donations. The Alliance of the Indianapolis Museum of Art was founded in 1958 and planned lectures, black tieBlack tie
Black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions. For a man, the main component is a usually black jacket, known as a dinner jacket or tuxedo...
balls
Ball (dance)
A ball is a formal dance. The word 'ball' is derived from the Latin word "ballare", meaning 'to dance'; the term also derived into "bailar", which is the Spanish and Portuguese word for dance . In Catalan it is the same word, 'ball', for the dance event.Attendees wear evening attire, which is...
, and related activities in order to raise funds for the museum. Major gifts included a $350,000 contribution in 1979 toward the $40 million centennial endowment campaign and a $500,000 contribution toward the IMA's 1990 expansion. By 2007 the Alliance had provided purchase funds for over 300 works of art. The Contemporary Art Society was formed in 1962 to acquire contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
for the museum's permanent collection. In 1963, the first major acquisition consisted of 65 works. The Horticultural Society was founded in 1972 to contribute to the care and education of the museum's gardens and grounds, raising $65,000 in 1989 toward the restoration of Oldfields' gardens. In the late 1970s the Second Century Society and the Print and Drawing Society were both formed. The Second Century Society, later known as the IMA Council, was founded to celebrate donations of $1,000 or more to the museum's annual operating fund, attracting more than 200 contributors during its inaugural year. In 1979, the Print and Drawing Society exhibited 70 artworks spanning 500 years in their first exhibit, The Print and Drawing Society Collections. By the late 1980s the museum had expanded its affiliate program to include the Decorative Arts Society, the Asian Arts Society, the Ethnographic Arts Society, and the Fashion Arts Society.
Admission
As early as 1915, the IMA (then the John Herron Art Institute) introduced free admission on Saturdays and Sundays, resulting in an increase in attendance and diversity in audience. In 1941 the museum began a free admission policy that remained in effect until 2006 when the board initiated a $7 admission fee for nonmembers. Beginning in January 2007, the museum returned to free general admission with the exception of special exhibits. Dropping the admission charge, which director and CEO Max Anderson described as a barrier that kept people away, resulted in increased attendance, membership, and donor support.Awards
After undergoing a sustainabilitySustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
initiative that reduced natural gas consumption by 48 percent and electricity consumption by 19 percent, the IMA became the first fine art museum to be named an Energy Star partner in 2008. As of 2010, the IMA was one of only 11 museums to receive this recognition by the Environmental Protection Agency. The museum instituted a "greening committee" to organize a variety of efforts to maintain environmental stewardship, a primary component of the institution's mission.
In 2009 the IMA was awarded the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, one of 10 institutions to receive this annual distinction by the Institute of Museum and Library Services
Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is an independent agency of the United States federal government established in 1996. It is the main source of federal support for libraries and museums within the United States, having the mission to "create strong libraries and museums that connect...
(IMLS). The IMA was recognized for serving its community through a number of programs, including Viewfinders, a school program that serves 9,000 local students a year. IMLS also cited the IMA's free admission, greening and sustainability initiatives, efforts to reach virtual audiences, and improvements in accessibility throughout the museum.
Education
The IMA's educational initiatives include programming for the local community as well as online audiences. Viewfinders, an art-viewing program that serves 9,000 local students a year, uses Visual Thinking Strategy, an arts-based curriculum that teaches critical thinkingCritical thinking
Critical thinking is the process or method of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false, or sometimes true and sometimes false, or partly true and partly false. The origins of critical thinking can be traced in Western thought to the Socratic...
, communication skills, and visual literacy
Visual literacy
Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading....
. The museum's emphasis on online engagement has led to educational tools such as ArtBabble, a video portal for art museum content. Davis Lab, located within the museum next to the Pulliam Great Hall, is a space where visitors can virtually browse the museum's collection and experiment with new technology. In addition to its focus on technology and school outreach, the museum provides classes, lectures, and film series, as well as ongoing tours of the collections, historic properties, and grounds. Other programming includes the Star Studio, a space for drop-in art making where visitors, along with museum staff, carry out projects inspired by museum exhibitions.
From 1946 until 1981, the Indianapolis Junior League provided volunteers and monetary support for the museum's docent program. In 1981, the museum began its own docent training program, which continues to serve a large number of volunteer docents through classes and training. As of 2009 over 500 individuals volunteer at the IMA.
Accessibility
Since the 1990s the IMA has continually improved accessibility for visitors; the initiative was a contributing factor to the museum receiving the National Medal for Museum and Library Service in 2009. The IMA provides captioningClosed captioning
Closed captioning is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information to individuals who wish to access it...
on videos produced by the museum, large print binders for exhibits, accessible seating and sign language interpretation in Tobias Theater, and wheelchair-accessible trails in 100 Acres. The museum also maintains partnerships with the Indiana School for the Deaf
Indiana School for the Deaf
Indiana School for the Deaf is a fully accredited school for the deaf and hearing impaired, located in Indianapolis, Indiana.-History:When the first school for the Deaf was established in Indiana, it was not called Indiana School for the Deaf...
and the Indiana School for the Blind
Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, or ISBVI, established in 1847 as the Indiana School for the Blind is a residential school for the visually impaired and blind youth of Indiana in Indianapolis. Students attend the school from grades preschool through high school...
. In 1993 the IMA opened the Garden for Everyone, a wheelchair-accessible garden designed to emphasize multiple senses. The garden includes varieties of fragrant and textured plants as well as a number of sculptures, including La Hermana del Hombre Boveda by Pablo Serrano.
Conservation
The IMA's conservation department was established in 1970 by the museum's first full-time conservator, Paul Spheeris, and quickly became known as a regional center for conservation. In 1978 the department began providing consulting services to regional institutions, taking on contracts from across the Midwest. An early high profile contract involved the preservation of 45 governors' portraits over the course of 15 months. The 1979 exhibit, Portraits and Painters of the Governors of Indiana, was held at the IMA from January to March before the portraits were placed on permanent display at the Indiana Statehouse. Other major regional projects have included the conservation and restoration of the Thomas Hart Benton murals, first created for the Indiana Hall at the 1933 Chicago World's FairCentury of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
and now located at Indiana University
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
, the Wishard Memorial Hospital
Wishard Memorial Hospital
The William N. Wishard Memorial Hospital, located in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is one of Indianapolis' oldest hospitals. The hospital was founded in 1855 in response to a smallpox epidemic in the city. During the Civil War, Wishard was used by the Union Army to treat soldiers...
murals, the Otto Stark
Otto Stark
Otto Stark was an American Impressionist painter who was considered to be a member of the Hoosier Group of Indiana artists. Stark's work most clearly showed the influence of Impressionism, and he often featured children in his work....
and Clifton Wheeler murals in Indianapolis Public School
Indianapolis Public Schools
Indianapolis Public Schools, abbreviated locally as IPS, is the largest school district in Indianapolis as well as in the state of Indiana with 33,372 students enrolled in 2009-2010...
54, and most recently the restoration of the May Wright Sewall Memorial Torches at Herron High School
Herron High School
Herron High School is a public charter school located in downtown Indianapolis, providing a classical liberal arts, college preparatory education. The school's curriculum is structured around an art history timeline and emphasizes the classic art and literature of many cultures...
, the former site of the John Herron Art Institute.
Currently, the conservation department serves the needs of the museum through the expertise of specialists in paintings, textiles, works on paper, frames, and objects conservation. The department has grown in both size and staff throughout the years, with the most recent expansion occurring in 2007. As of 2007, the IMA owned one of the few computer-based X-ray units in the United States, continuing a trend in X-ray technology that the department began in the 1970s. In 1980, the department helped organize and establish the Midwest Regional Conservation Guild
Midwest Regional Conservation Guild
The Midwest Regional Conservation Guild is a professional conservation association in the Midwestern United States.-History:The MRCG was formed in 1980 by art conservation and restoration professionals with the purpose of bringing together those individuals in the Midwest region interested in...
, which includes conservators and conservation scientists from Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, and Michigan. In the mid-1980s, the department received attention when head conservator Martin Radecki assisted local authorities in uncovering over two dozen forged T.C. Steele and William Forsythe paintings worth more than $200,000. The high profile forgery case led Radecki to organize an exhibit in 1989, Is it Genuine? Steele, Forsythe and Forgery in Indiana. The exhibit highlighted conservation techniques and examined how forgeries can be discovered. Another public presentation of conservation took place in 2007 with Sebastiano Mainardi: The Science of Art, a Star Studio exhibit that allowed visitors to watch conservators as they worked on the 16th-century altarpiece. The IMA's Star Studio is an interactive gallery that enables visitors to learn, through the process of art-making and observation, about the museum's collections.
In February 2010, the IMA shifted from current environmental control standards within their exhibition spaces, allowing temperature and humidity fluctuation of a few degrees on either side of the suggested standard. Director and CEO Maxwell Anderson had been involved in discussions with the Bizot Group of museum directors in which the scientific validity of the current standard was called into question. The IMA relinquished the standard after concluding that the majority of artworks could sustain a greater range of humidity, so permitting the museum to save on the cost of energy bills and reduce its carbon footprint.
Conservation Science
In October 2008, the IMA announced a $2.6 million grant from the Lilly EndowmentLilly Endowment
Lilly Endowment Inc., headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana is one of the world's largest private philanthropic foundations and is among the ten largest such endowments in the United States....
to be used toward the creation of a state-of-the-art conservation science
Conservation science
Conservation science is the interdisciplinary study of cultural heritage conservation through the use of scientific inquiry and analytical equipment...
lab. Through a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Dr. Gregory Dale Smith was hired in October 2009 to lead the lab as its senior conservation scientist. A main focus of the lab is the conservation of newer objects in the IMA's collection, such as couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
fashion in the textile collection and objects made of synthetic
Synthetic
Synthesis, the combination of two or more parts, whether by design or by natural processes. Furthermore, it may imply being prepared or made artificially, in contrast to naturally.-In the sense of combination:* Synthetic position, a concept in finance...
materials in the design collection. Another focus is scientific research on materials found in the collections, such as resins and dyes on African art pieces and glazes on Asian ceramics. Through the addition of the lab, the IMA aims to establish itself as an internationally-recognized conservation center and to increase its potential as a training and professional development resource in conservation science.
IMA Lab
In February 2010, the IMA announced the launch of IMA Lab, a consulting service within the museum's technology department. IMA Lab was designed to address museum-specific technology needs not currently met by software vendorsIndependent software vendor
Independent software vendor is a business term for companies specializing in making or selling software, designed for mass marketing or for niche markets...
and to provide consulting services to museums and nonprofit organizations that want to use technology to help solve problems and meet objectives. IMA Lab projects include TAP, steve.museum
Steve.museum
The steve.museum project is a collaborative effort to improve public access to and engagement with US art museum collections. To do so, it is exploring the possibilities of user-generated descriptions of works of art, also known as folksonomy...
, and the IMA Dashboard. TAP is a mobile tour application
Mobile application development
Mobile application development is the process by which application software is developed for small low-power handheld devices such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones...
for iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
that presents visitors with content related to the IMA's collection, such as artist interviews, text and audio files, and pictures. Steve.museum, for which IMA Lab is the technical lead, is a project that explores social tagging as a new way to describe collections and make them more accessible. The IMA Dashboard is a feature of the IMA website that provides real-time information about the museum's operations, including the size of its endowment
Financial endowment
A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....
, the objects it has marked for deaccession, and the amount of daily energy the museum consumes.
ArtBabble
In 2009 the IMA launched ArtBabble, an online art themed video website that features interviews and full-length documentaries. ArtBabble serves as a repository for art related media content created by not only the IMA but other institutions. The Smithsonian American Art MuseumSmithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is a modern art museum located in San Francisco, California. A nonprofit organization, SFMOMA holds an internationally recognized collection of modern and contemporary art and was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th century art...
, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is an art museum in Los Angeles, California. It is located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles, adjacent to the George C. Page Museum and La Brea Tar Pits....
, San Diego Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego , in San Diego, California, USA, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.-History:...
, and the The New York Public Library are some of the 30 worldwide partners who contribute content. ArtBabble was a showcase project for the National Summit on Arts Journalism and was chosen "Best Overall" Best of the Web winner at Museums and the Web 2010
Museums and the Web
The annual Museums and the Web conference is the leading international conference in the field of museums and their websites. It has been organized by Archives & Museum Informatics each Spring in North America since 1997.- Overview :...
.
IMA Art Services
IMA Art Services is a consulting service focused around public art and modeled after the museum's other consulting arm, IMA Lab. In January 2011, IMA Art Services signed its first contract with the Indianapolis Airport AuthorityIndianapolis Airport Authority
Indianapolis Airport Authority is a municipal corporation established by the Indiana General Assembly in 1962. It is responsible for owning, developing and operating several public airports and one public heliport located in and around Indianapolis, a city in Marion County, Indiana, United...
. With the $100,000, one-year contract, the museum will manage the Indianapolis Airport Authority's art collection, which includes 40 works currently on display in the passenger terminal of the Indianapolis International Airport
Indianapolis International Airport
Indianapolis International Airport is a public airport located seven miles southwest of the central business district of Indianapolis, a city in Marion County, Indiana, United States. It is owned and operated by the Indianapolis Airport Authority...
.