James A. Michener Art Museum facts for kids
James Michener Museum across the street from the Mercer Museum
|
|
| Established | 1988 |
|---|---|
| Location | 138 South Pine Street Doylestown, PA 18901 United States |
| Type | Art, sculpture garden |
| Visitors | 135,000 annually |
| Public transit access |  Doylestown:
Lansdale/Doylestown Line
 SEPTA bus: 55 |
The Michener Art Museum is a special place in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. It's a museum that shows off amazing art! It opened in 1988 and is named after James A. Michener, a famous writer who won a Pulitzer Prize and lived in Doylestown.
The museum is built inside the old stone walls of a 19th-century prison. It has a fantastic collection of art from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. You can also see American art from the 1800s and 1900s. The museum is especially known for its Pennsylvania Impressionism art. This art style came from an art community in nearby New Hope, Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. The museum also has new exhibits all the time, from big international shows to local art.
Contents
Exploring the Museum: What You'll Find
The Michener Art Museum has a lot of space for visitors, about 40,000 square feet! It includes a beautiful outdoor courtyard. There's also a cool glass building for events. You can walk through an outdoor sculpture garden. This garden is built in what used to be the prison yard.
The museum also has rooms for classes and meetings. Don't forget to check out the museum shop for souvenirs. There's even a café if you get hungry. The George Nakashima Reading Room is a quiet place to read. The Martin Wing has special areas to prepare and store the art collection.
A Look Back: The Museum's History
People in Doylestown first thought about having a museum for Pennsylvania Impressionist art way back in 1949. A local artist named Walter Emerson Baum helped start this idea.
In the 1970s, a group called the Bucks County Council on the Arts started collecting art. This art was meant for government buildings. Some of it was shown at their office. They also helped create a "Artmobile" in 1974, which was a mobile art exhibit.
How the Museum Began
In 1988, the Bucks County leaders decided to spend $650,000 to build an art museum. They chose the recently closed Bucks County Prison as the location. The Bucks County Council on the Arts was put in charge of the new museum. Their collected artworks became part of the museum's first collection.
James A. Michener, who grew up in Doylestown, was a huge help. He donated $500,000 and some paintings from his own collection. Over time, he gave a total of $8.5 million to the museum! Architects O’Donnell & Naccarato, Inc. helped change the old prison into a museum. The warden's house and control buildings became offices and exhibit spaces. Some of the original prison walls are still there. They now form a cool background for the outdoor sculptures and event area.
The museum was named the James A. Michener Art Museum. It officially opened on September 15, 1988. James Michener and his wife, Mari Sabusawa Michener, were there for the opening.
Growing Bigger: Museum Expansions
The museum grew quite a bit over the years. In 1993, it had its first big expansion. This added larger art galleries and a secure storage vault. A few years later, in 1996, the Mari Sabusawa Michener Wing was added.
In 1999, the museum's collection grew even more. Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest gave 54 Pennsylvania Impressionist paintings. They also donated $3 million to help the museum keep going. In 2007, the Syd and Sharon Martin Wing opened. This added a new 5,000 square foot gallery and more offices.
The museum also opened the Edgar N. Putman Event Pavilion. This is a modern glass building with a solid roof. It has sliding doors on two sides. It's used for fun events like Jazz Nights, talks, and special gatherings.
For a while, the Michener Art Museum had a second location in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It opened in 2003 but closed in 2009.
The Old Prison Building
The Bucks County Prison, where the museum now stands, first opened in 1884. An architect named Addison Hutton designed it. It had a three-story house for the warden and a control center. The design was inspired by Quaker ideas about thinking and reflection. The overall look was similar to the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. The Bucks County Prison closed in 1985. The warden's house is an important historical building in Doylestown.
The Art Collection: What You'll See
The museum has over 2,700 pieces of art. This includes paintings, sculptures, and drawings. All of it comes from the Bucks County art tradition. The art ranges from colonial times to today. You can see works by Pennsylvania Impressionist painters. These artists are sometimes called the New Hope school. There are also American primitive painters and modern artists.
The museum also has abstract expressionist art. These pieces are on loan from the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art. James A. Michener and his wife, Mari, gave a large part of their own art collection to that museum. Besides the art that is always on display, the Michener Art Museum has about fifteen new exhibits each year. These shows feature many different art styles and types of art.
Pennsylvania Impressionism: A Special Style
The museum has a wonderful collection of art from the Pennsylvania Impressionism movement. This art style was popular in the first half of the 1900s. It was centered in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Artists like John Fulton Folinsbee, Walter Emerson Baum, George Sotter, Nate Dunn, Fern Coppedge, Edward Redfield, Daniel Garber, and Walter E. Schofield were part of this group.
Like the French Impressionist artists, these painters often worked outdoors. This is called plein air painting. They focused on showing the quality of color, light, and different times of day in their artwork.
Amazing Artworks to Discover
-
Edward Willis Redfield
-
Charles Rosen
.jpg)
Learning and Exploring: Education Programs
The museum offers many ways to learn about art. Adults can attend lectures and workshops led by art experts and artists. There are also classes and workshops for children of all ages. These programs are for kids from preschool through high school. Some classes are even for families to do together!
The museum works with local schools to offer programs both at the museum and in classrooms. The museum also keeps a large collection of historical documents. These documents tell the story of regional artists, both past and present.
Discover Bucks County Artists Online
The museum has a special online database. It's like a digital encyclopedia of artists from the Bucks County area. You can also see it on a computer screen at the museum's Family Education Center. This database has over 1,700 pages of information. It includes more than 1,300 images.
You can learn about 371 different artists. These include architects, craftspeople, musicians, painters, photographers, poets, sculptors, and writers. They all come from the artistic tradition of New Hope and Bucks County. Some famous artists featured are the Quaker painter Edward Hicks (1780–1849) and master woodworker George Nakashima (1905–1990). You can also find information about authors and illustrators Stan and Jan Berenstain.
Exhibits You Can Always See
- The Lenfest Exhibition of Pennsylvania Impressionism: This exhibit features beautiful paintings from the Pennsylvania Impressionist movement.
- The George Nakashima Reading Room: A quiet space dedicated to the famous woodworker.
- Daniel Garber's A Wooded Watershed: This is a huge 22-foot mural. It was painted for a big exhibition in Philadelphia in 1926.
- Intelligent Design: Studio Craft + Tradition: This exhibit shows amazing handcrafted items.
- "James A. Michener: A Living Legacy": This exhibit is all about the museum's namesake, James A. Michener. It even recreates his Bucks County office! You can see his desk, chair, typewriter, and other items. This is where he wrote his famous book, Tales of the South Pacific. He lived and worked in this home for over 35 years.
