Figge Art Museum facts for kids
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| Established | 1925; in present location since 2005 |
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| Location | 225 W. 2nd Street, Davenport, Iowa, US |
| Visitors | 76,688 (2006) |
| Architect | David Chipperfield |
| Public transit access |  Davenport CitiBus |
The Figge Art Museum is a cool place to see art! It's located right by the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa. People often just call it 'the Figge.' It has a huge collection of art from all over the world. It's the main art museum for eastern Iowa and western Illinois. The Figge also helps universities and colleges nearby with their art programs.
The museum's modern building was designed by a famous British architect named David Chipperfield. It first opened its doors to visitors on August 6, 2005. The Figge was one of the first big projects Chipperfield designed in the United States. Building the museum cost $47 million. A large part of that money, $13 million, was given by the V.O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Foundation. David Chipperfield also designed another museum building, the east building of the Saint Louis Art Museum, which opened in 2013. In 2023, Chipperfield won the Pritzker Architecture Prize. This award is often called the highest honor in architecture.
Today's Figge Art Museum started a long time ago. It was first known as the Davenport Municipal Art Gallery in 1925. The museum's first collection of art was a gift from Charles Ficke. He was a successful lawyer and a former mayor of Davenport. Ficke collected art from all over the world. An art expert named Robert E. Harsche said that no other American public art gallery had ever started with so many important paintings.
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What Art Can You See at the Figge?
The Figge Art Museum has more than 4,000 pieces of art! These artworks range from the 16th century all the way to today. The museum is especially known for its large collections of art from Haiti, Colonial Mexico, and the Midwestern United States.
Famous Midwestern Artists
You can see many pieces by famous Midwestern artists. These include Thomas Hart Benton, Marvin Cone, and Grant Wood. The museum even has the only self-portrait Grant Wood ever painted. In 1990, Grant Wood's personal belongings and artworks became part of the Figge Art Museum's collection. This happened through his sister, Nan Wood Graham. She was the woman shown in Wood's famous painting, American Gothic.
Art from Around the World
The museum also has a big collection of American art. This includes works by artists like Albert Bierstadt, James McNeill Whistler, William Merritt Chase, Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Ansel Adams, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Moncho1929, and Jasper Johns.
You can also find European art at the Figge. Some of the artists featured are Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, Francisco Goya, Sir Thomas Lawrence, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Henry Raeburn, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
The museum also has art from East Asia. This includes pieces by Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Kunisada.
Grant Wood Archives
Since the museum owns Grant Wood's estate, it is also home to the Grant Wood Archives. These archives are a collection of his papers and other important documents. The museum received a lot of help from The Henry Luce Foundation to keep these archives safe and well-preserved.
Frank Lloyd Wright Collection
The museum displays an important collection of pieces by the famous American architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright. He lived from 1867 to 1959. The Wright collection includes drawings, furniture, fabrics, and decorative objects. These items come from many different projects throughout his career. Some of the projects shown include the Arthur Heurtley House (1902), Avery Coonley House (1907), Edward P. Irving House (1909), Frederick C. Bogk House (1916), Johnson Wax Headquarters (1936), and the Price Tower (1952).
In 1943, a well-known Mexican art historian named Manuel Toussaint visited Davenport, Iowa. He came to look at the Figge's collection of colonial Mexican art. At that time, the museum was called the Davenport Museum of Art. Toussaint said it was one of the most important collections in an American museum. He even wrote about his thoughts on the collection.
University of Iowa Art Collection at the Figge
For a while, the Figge Art Museum temporarily held many artworks from the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art. This happened after the University of Iowa's gallery was flooded in 2008. A new building for the Stanley Museum was built. So, the collection started to return to Iowa City in 2020.
Museum Studies Program at the Figge
The Figge Art Museum is also home to Western Illinois University's graduate program in Museum Studies. This program offers a Master of Arts degree. Students learn about different parts of managing a museum. This includes how to design exhibits, run the museum, manage money, teach art, take care of collections, and do marketing.
More About the Museum
The museum building is very large, covering 115,000 square feet (about 10,683 square meters). The Figge Art Museum has been officially recognized by the American Alliance of Museums since 1973. This means it meets high standards for museums.
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Figge Art Museum Davenport, Iowa 07-04-18 By Nate Woolsey
