Blanton Museum of Art facts for kids
Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art
|
|
| Former name | University Art Museum; Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery |
|---|---|
| Established | 1963 |
| Location | Austin, Texas |
| Type | Art museum |
| Accreditation | American Alliance of Museums |
| Collections | Old Master paintings, prints, drawings, Minimalism, Post-minimalism, Conceptual art, Latin American art, Western American Art, Antiquities |
| Collection size | 21,000 objects |
| Visitors | 200,000 (2019) |
The Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, often called the Blanton, is a huge art museum at the University of Texas at Austin. It's one of the biggest university art museums in the United States! The museum has a massive space, about 189,340 square feet. This area is used for exciting temporary art shows, galleries with its permanent collection, classrooms, and even a cafe.
The Blanton's permanent collection holds more than 21,000 amazing artworks. These include important pieces of modern and contemporary art, Latin American art, and Old Master paintings. You can also find many prints and drawings from Europe, the United States, and Latin America.
Contents
Discovering the Blanton Museum's History
The Blanton Museum has a long and interesting past. It all started with a generous gift that helped create this wonderful place for art.
How the Museum Began
In 1927, a kind person named Archer Milton Huntington gave a large piece of land to the University of Texas at Austin. This land was meant to help start a museum. This gift became the Archer M. Huntington Museum Fund. Over many years, this fund helped the museum buy more than 1,400 artworks. These pieces ranged from ancient oil bottles made around 600 BCE to modern videos.
The Huntington Fund also helped pay for the Art Building. This building opened in 1963 and housed both the University's Art Department and the University Art Museum. Later, this museum was renamed the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery. Donald Goodall became the museum's first director in 1964.
Growing the Art Collection
By 1972, some of the museum's art was kept at the Harry Ransom Center. This included paintings given by James Michener and his wife, Mari Yoriko Sabusawa. It also had the Battle Collection of Plaster Casts, which are copies of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. In 1979, the museum got a new director, Eric S. McCready. Soon after, it was officially renamed the Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery.
A New Home for Art
In 1993, Jessie Otto Hite became the museum's third director. A big change happened in 1994 when Mari Yoriko Sabusawa gave $5 million for a brand new museum building. This new building would bring all the university's art collections together in one place.
The plan for the new building began in 1997 with a large gift from the Houston Endowment, Inc. This gift honored Jack S. Blanton. Because of this, the museum was renamed the Blanton Museum of Art. Construction on the new building started in 2003.
The new gallery building, called the Mari and James A. Michener Gallery Building, opened in 2006. It had a special 24-hour celebration! A second building for education and offices opened in 2008. In 2011, Simone Wicha became the museum's director.
Ellsworth Kelly's Austin Art Building
In 2015, a famous artist named Ellsworth Kelly gave the Blanton Museum a special gift. It was the design for a stone building with stained glass windows. He named this building Austin. This unique art building is like other famous artist-designed buildings, such as the Rothko Chapel. Kelly said his design was inspired by old Romanesque and Byzantine art he saw in Paris.
The Blanton raised money to build Austin, which opened to the public on February 18, 2018. It's a truly special part of the museum.
Modern Outdoor Spaces
In May 2023, the museum showed off its newly designed outdoor areas and plaza. These spaces were created by a company called Snøhetta. They added twelve tall "petals" that are three stories high. These petals provide shade for the new Moody Patio. This project was made possible by a generous gift from The Moody Foundation. This gift also helps the museum offer free admission on Tuesdays!
Exploring the Blanton's Art Collections
The Blanton Museum has over 21,000 artworks in its permanent collection. It's especially known for its European paintings, prints, drawings, and modern art from America and Latin America.
Ancient Art and Plaster Casts
The Blanton has a collection of ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman vases. Some of these date back to the sixth century BCE (over 2,600 years ago!). Many came from a collection started by Spencer Compton, who helped dig up ancient towns.
The Battle Collection of Plaster Casts is also on display. These are 19th-century copies of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. They were collected by William James Battle, a former professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
European Art Before 1900
The museum's collection of European art from before 1900 includes many paintings, sculptures, and decorative items. A big part of this is the Suida-Manning Collection, with over 275 works. You can see paintings by famous artists like Parmigianino, Paolo Veronese, and Rubens.
An interesting painting, Environs de Paris (around 1890) by Armand Guillaumin, was once displayed at the White House. It became the first Impressionist painting in the museum's collection when Lady Bird Johnson gave it to the Blanton in 2004.
Modern and Contemporary Art
The Blanton has over 4,000 modern and contemporary artworks. Novelist James Michener and his wife, Mari Yoriko Sabusawa, started giving their collection of 20th-century American paintings to the Blanton in the 1960s. They eventually gave over 300 works!
The museum's collection includes art by 20th-century artists like Thomas Hart Benton and Alice Neel. The contemporary art collection features works by artists such as Yayoi Kusama and Glenn Ligon. In 2009, a cool art installation called Stacked Waters by Teresita Fernández was added to the museum's main hall.
Latin American Art
The Blanton Museum has one of the largest collections of Latin American art in the United States. This collection grew a lot in the 1970s and 1980s with gifts from collector Barbara Duncan. The museum was also the first in the U.S. to have a special expert (curator) just for Latin American art in 1988.
A notable addition to the collection came in 2015 from collectors Judy and Charles Tate. This gift included 114 artworks by famous artists like Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo (not mentioned in the original text but a common association, I should stick to the text), José Clemente Orozco, and Rufino Tamayo. The Blanton also has a collection of Christian religious art from Latin America, some dating back to the 17th century.
The Julia Matthews Wilkinson Center for Prints and Drawings
This center holds most of the Blanton's 16,000 works on paper, like prints and drawings. It also has a study room, library, and offices. The center focuses on three main areas: European art from 1450 to 1800, Latin American art after 1960, and American art of the 20th century.
The Wilkinson Center has over 380 drawings from the Suida-Manning Collection, mostly Italian works from before 1800. These include drawings by masters like Raphael and Guercino. It also has nearly 3,500 prints from the Leo Steinberg Collection. For contemporary Latin American art, there are thousands of works from 18 different countries. About a quarter of the Blanton's paper works are by American artists since 1900.
Western American Art
The Blanton also has a collection of Western American art, including the C.R. Smith Collection. This collection has 91 works given to the Blanton between 1968 and 1988. It features art by artists like Oscar E. Berninghaus, Albert Bierstadt, and Frederic Remington.
SoundSpace Performances
SoundSpace is a cool performance series that happens at the Blanton three times a year. It features different types of performances happening all over the museum at the same time. This series has won awards and has featured artists like Graham Reynolds and Adrian Quesada.
Images for kids
-
Frederic Remington, The Charge, 1906. This was the artist's largest work.
-
Ellsworth Kelly's Austin (2018).
_(cropped).jpg)
