Masur Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
The Masur Museum of Art in Monroe, Louisiana
in the United States
, is the largest visual arts
museum in northeast Louisiana
. It is located in the former home of the Masur
family, the Masur House, also known as the Slagle-Masur House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
. The building, constructed in modified Tudor style in 1914, was listed on the National Register in 1982 for its architecture. In 1963 it was given to the city of Monroe by the Masur family.
The mission of the museum is to support and foster visual arts in the community through exhibitions, both temporary and from the museum’s permanent collection, as well as providing educational programs for both children and adults. Lectures, films, and artist talks are presented in the Lower River Gallery. The Carriage House is used for art classes, summer art camps, workshops, and demonstrations. Admission to the museum is free. The permanent collection includes works by Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt
, Philip Guston
, Joan Miró
, Robert Motherwell
, Pablo Picasso
, Auguste Rodin
. Salvador Dali
, Alex Katz
, Fairfield Porter
, and Georges Rouault
. The collection also features the work of distinguished artists with ties to Louisiana, namely Lynda Benglis
, Clyde Connell
, Alexander Drysdale, John Geldersma, Ida Kohlmeyer
, Eugene J. Martin
, and George Rodrigue
, among others. Also included in the collection are several long-term loans that are on view on a rotating basis. These include works by Marc Chagall
, Joan Miro
, Pablo Picasso
, and Pierre Auguste Renoir.
, which runs behind the estate. Originally the grounds included an English style rose garden and a lawn extending down to the river. When the Army Corps of Engineers built the levee
system in the 1930s, the carriage house
was moved behind the new levee and much of the lawn was subsequently lost.
The Great Depression
caused the home to go up for sale in the early 1930s and the Masur family acquired it. Sigmund and Beatrice Masur and their children Sylvian, Jack, and Bertha Marie lived in the home until the 1960s. The Masur children donated the home to the city in December 1963 under the agreement that it become a fine arts museum. The new museum, The Masur Museum of Art, held its first exhibition in September 1964.
The Masur Museum of Art operates as a division of the Department of Community Affairs of the City of Monroe with a mission to provide a quality visual arts experience for the community. The city provides funding for staff salaries and museum maintenance. In 1974, the Twin City Art Foundation was formed to provide additional support for the museum, providing funding for exhibitions, educational programs, and the permanent collection.
Monroe, Louisiana
Monroe is a city in and the parish seat of Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 53,107, making it the eighth largest city in Louisiana. A July 1, 2007, United States Census Bureau estimate placed the population at 51,208, but 51,636...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, is the largest visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
museum in northeast Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
. It is located in the former home of the Masur
Masur
-People:* The Masurians, residents of Masuria* A surname signifying membership in the Masurian ethnic group :...
family, the Masur House, also known as the Slagle-Masur House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. The building, constructed in modified Tudor style in 1914, was listed on the National Register in 1982 for its architecture. In 1963 it was given to the city of Monroe by the Masur family.
The mission of the museum is to support and foster visual arts in the community through exhibitions, both temporary and from the museum’s permanent collection, as well as providing educational programs for both children and adults. Lectures, films, and artist talks are presented in the Lower River Gallery. The Carriage House is used for art classes, summer art camps, workshops, and demonstrations. Admission to the museum is free. The permanent collection includes works by Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt
Mary Stevenson Cassatt was an American painter and printmaker. She lived much of her adult life in France, where she first befriended Edgar Degas and later exhibited among the Impressionists...
, Philip Guston
Philip Guston
Philip Guston was a notable painter and printmaker in the New York School, which included many of the Abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning...
, Joan Miró
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
, Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell
Robert Motherwell American painter, printmaker and editor. He was one of the youngest of the New York School , which also included Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Willem de Kooning, and Philip Guston....
, 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...
, Auguste Rodin
Auguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
. Salvador Dali
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Alex Katz
Alex Katz
Alex Katz is an American figurative artist associated with the Pop art movement. In particular, he is known for his paintings, sculptures, and prints and is represented by numerous galleries internationally.-Life and work:...
, Fairfield Porter
Fairfield Porter
Fairfield Porter was an American painter and art critic. He was the brother of photographer Eliot Porter and the brother-in-law of federal Reclamation Commissioner Michael W. Straus....
, and Georges Rouault
Georges Rouault
Georges Henri Rouault[p] was a French Fauvist and Expressionist painter, and printmaker in lithography and etching.-Childhood and education:Rouault was born in Paris into a poor family...
. The collection also features the work of distinguished artists with ties to Louisiana, namely Lynda Benglis
Lynda Benglis
Lynda Benglis is an American sculptor known for her wax paintings and poured latex sculptures. After earning a BFA from Newcomb College in 1964, Benglis moved to New York, where she lives and works today...
, Clyde Connell
Clyde Connell
Clyde Connell was an American female abstract impressionist sculptor.-Life:She grew up in Shreveport, the seat of Caddo Parish in northwestern Louisiana, who lived and worked in a cabin at Lake Bistineau during her later years....
, Alexander Drysdale, John Geldersma, Ida Kohlmeyer
Ida Kohlmeyer
Ida Rittenberg Kohlmeyer was an American painter and sculptor who lived and worked in Louisiana. Notably her work is held by the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art...
, Eugene J. Martin
Eugene J. Martin
Eugene James Martin was a prolific African American visual artist.-Art:Eugene J...
, and George Rodrigue
George Rodrigue
George Rodrigue is a Cajun artist who grew up in New Iberia, Louisiana. Rodrigue began painting outdoor family gatherings framed by moss-clad oak trees in an area of French Louisiana known as Acadiana.-Biography:...
, among others. Also included in the collection are several long-term loans that are on view on a rotating basis. These include works by Marc 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...
, Joan Miro
Joan Miró
Joan Miró i Ferrà was a Spanish Catalan painter, sculptor, and ceramicist born in Barcelona.Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride...
, 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...
, and Pierre Auguste Renoir.
History
The Masur Museum of Art was built as a private residence in 1929. A lumberman by the name of Clarence Edward Slagle had the modified Tudor estate built for his wife Mabel Chauvin. The Indiana limestone and Pennsylvania blue slate used to build the home were brought down through various waterways to the scenic Ouachita RiverOuachita River
The Ouachita River is a river that runs south and east through the U.S. states of Arkansas and Louisiana, joining the Tensas River to form the Black River near Jonesville, Louisiana.-Course:...
, which runs behind the estate. Originally the grounds included an English style rose garden and a lawn extending down to the river. When the Army Corps of Engineers built the levee
Levee
A levee, levée, dike , embankment, floodbank or stopbank is an elongated naturally occurring ridge or artificially constructed fill or wall, which regulates water levels...
system in the 1930s, the carriage house
Carriage 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...
was moved behind the new levee and much of the lawn was subsequently lost.
The Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
caused the home to go up for sale in the early 1930s and the Masur family acquired it. Sigmund and Beatrice Masur and their children Sylvian, Jack, and Bertha Marie lived in the home until the 1960s. The Masur children donated the home to the city in December 1963 under the agreement that it become a fine arts museum. The new museum, The Masur Museum of Art, held its first exhibition in September 1964.
The Masur Museum of Art operates as a division of the Department of Community Affairs of the City of Monroe with a mission to provide a quality visual arts experience for the community. The city provides funding for staff salaries and museum maintenance. In 1974, the Twin City Art Foundation was formed to provide additional support for the museum, providing funding for exhibitions, educational programs, and the permanent collection.
External links
- Official Website (accessed October 28, 2010)
- The News Star Article about Museum Exhibit (accessed October 28, 2010)
- Masur Museum of Art - Monroe, Louisiana on Waymarking, accessed 11-04-2010
- Official Website (accessed February 2, 2011)