Joslyn Art Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Joslyn Art Museum

Joslyn Building and Hawks Pavilion
Established	1931; 94 years ago (1931)
Location	2200 Dodge St Omaha, Nebraska  United States
Type	Art museum
Collection size	12,000 works
Visitors	190,000 (2019)

The Joslyn Art Museum, often called the Joslyn, is a large art museum in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the biggest art museum in the state. The museum first opened in 1931. It was started by Sarah H. Joslyn to honor her husband, a businessman named George A. Joslyn.

Since it opened, the museum has grown several times. The most recent expansion was finished in 2024. The Joslyn is the only museum in Nebraska with a huge permanent collection of art. It has over 12,000 pieces. These include art from America and Europe from the 1800s and 1900s. You can also find Western American Art, Chinese and Japanese art, and contemporary art (art from today). The museum is also home to the Margre H. Durham Center for Western Studies. This center has important collections by Western artists like Karl Bodmer and Alfred Jacob Miller.

Discovering the Joslyn Art Museum's History

George and Sarah Joslyn's Vision

George and Sarah Joslyn moved to Omaha in 1880. George started his own printing company, the Western Newspaper Union. It became very successful and made him a wealthy man. George was known for giving back to the community, a "philanthropist."

Both George and Sarah loved the arts, especially music. When George passed away in 1916, Sarah wanted to create a special building to remember him. This building would show their love for art and be a gift to the people of Omaha. Sarah created a group called the Society of Liberal Arts. Its goal was to find a permanent home for art in Omaha. This group later became the Joslyn Art Museum in 1987.

Sarah Joslyn passed away in 1940. She left money to help the museum grow and buy new art.

The Museum Building's Story

The Joslyn Memorial building began construction in 1928. It was designed in the impressive Art Deco style. This style was popular at the time and drew ideas from Egyptian temples and other modern designs. The building is made of pink marble from Georgia. Inside, you can see 38 different types of marble from around the world.

Sculptor John David Brcin designed the decorations on the outside. These panels show the people of the Great Plains. They feature both the original Native American inhabitants and the European explorers.

The Joslyn Memorial building opened in 1931. It had art galleries, a concert hall, classrooms, and a beautiful atrium. In 1938, it was named one of the top 100 buildings in the United States.

Growing the Museum's Space

Over the years, the museum needed more space for its growing art collection. In 1994, the first big addition was built. It was designed by Lord Norman Foster. This new part, called the Scott Pavilion, used the same pink Georgian marble as the original building. This made the new section blend in perfectly. It added galleries, a cafe, offices, and a glass atrium connecting it to the old building.

In 2008, work started on the Joslyn Museum Sculpture Gardens. These gardens opened in 2009. They feature art from local and national artists, along with a reflecting pool and waterfall.

The newest addition, the Rhonda and Howard Hawks Pavilion, was announced in 2018. The museum closed for construction in May 2022 and reopened in September 2024. This new pavilion added 42,000 square feet of space. It includes more galleries, classrooms, a new gift shop, and community rooms. The outside of the Hawks Pavilion looks like a cloud, inspired by the Great Plains. It also created a new entrance for visitors.

The Walter & Suzanne Scott Pavilion, seen in 2012

The museum's entry atrium, in Hawks Pavilion.

Visiting the Joslyn Art Museum

When the museum first opened in 1931, it was free to visit. This continued until 1965, when a small fee was added. Over time, the price went up. However, in 2013, the museum went back to its original idea of free admission. This was made possible by a grant. As of the museum's reopening in 2024, admission remains free for everyone.

Art Collections at the Joslyn

When the Joslyn Memorial first opened, it needed art to fill its galleries. Many groups and people donated their collections. After Sarah Joslyn passed away, the museum continued to buy new art. Directors like Paul Grummann and Eugene Kingman helped expand the collections. For example, the museum added Greek vases and art from Indigenous cultures. In 1986, a large collection of works by Karl Bodmer became a permanent part of the museum. More recently, the museum has added many modern and contemporary pieces.

Here are some of the main collections you can see at the Joslyn Art Museum:

• Ancient Art: This collection includes Greek pottery and statues from Greek, Roman, and Egyptian times.
• European Art: You can see works from the 16th to 19th centuries. This includes paintings by famous artists like Veronese, Titian, Rembrandt, Claude Lorrain, and El Greco. There are also Impressionist paintings by Monet, Pissarro, and Renoir.

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  Claude Gellée, called Claude Lorrain, Rest on the Flight into Egypt, c. 1640

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  Rembrandt van Rijn, Portrait of Dirck van Os, c. 1658

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  Angelica Kauffmann, A Portrait of Mary Tisdal Reading, c. 1771-72

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  Eugène Delacroix, The Entombment (after Peter Paul Rubens), 1836

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  Jules Breton, The Vintage at Château Lagrange, 1864

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  Jean-Léon Gérôme, The Muezzin, 1865

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  Gustave Courbet, Coast Scene-Approaching Storm, c. 1870

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  Gustave Doré, Mountain Landscape, 1877

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  Claude Monet, The Meadow, 1879

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  Camille Pissarro, Haymakers, Evening, Éragny, 1893

• American Art: This collection features early American portraiture. You'll find works by artists from the Hudson River School like Thomas Cole. There are also realist works by Winslow Homer and Thomas Eakins. American impressionists like Mary Cassatt are also represented.

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  Albert Bierstadt, Dawn at Donner Lake, California, c. 1871–73

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  Winslow Homer, Trooper Meditating Beside a Grave, c. 1865

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  Mary Cassatt, Woman Reading, 1878-79

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  William Merritt Chase, Sunlight and Shadow, 1884

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  Grant Wood, Stone City, Iowa, 1930

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  George Ault, August Night at Russell's Corners, 1948

• Native American Art: This collection includes both traditional art and art influenced by European styles.
• Art of the American West: This is a very important collection. It has 269 watercolor paintings by the Swiss artist Karl Bodmer. These show his journey to the Missouri River in the 1830s. It's the largest collection of Bodmer's work in the United States. There are also over 110 works by painter Alfred Jacob Miller, showing the American West in the 1830s.

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  Karl Bodmer, Omaha Boy, 1833

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  Karl Bodmer, White Castles on the Missouri, 1833

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  Karl Bodmer, View of the Stone Walls, 1833

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  Karl Bodmer, Hotokáneheh, Piegan Blackfeet Man, 1833

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  Karl Bodmer, First Chain of the Rocky Mountains above Fort McKenzie, 1833

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  Karl Bodmer, Upsichtä́, Mandan Man, 1834

• Latin American Art: This collection features paintings of saints and pottery.
• Post War and Contemporary Art: Here you'll find sculptures by artists like Deborah Butterfield and Donald Judd. There are also Abstract Expressionist works by Jackson Pollock and Helen Frankenthaler. You can also see Pop Art by George Segal and Tom Wesselmann.
• Asian Art: This collection mainly has ancient Chinese sculptures from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. It also includes Japanese decorative arts from the 19th and 20th centuries.

Outdoor Sculpture Gardens

The Joslyn Art Museum also has beautiful outdoor sculpture gardens.

Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden

This garden features many interesting sculptures, including:

• Oedipus at Colonnus (1968) by Leonard Baskin
• Untitled (2005) by Jun Kaneko
• Bronze Bench #5 (2005) by Betty Woodman
• Dineh (1981) by Allen Houser
• Spirit of the Dance (1932) by William Zorach
• Large Covered Wagon (2004) by Tom Otterness
• One of the Burghers of Calais (1987) by Auguste Rodin
• Double-Sided Settee (A Trio) (1983) by Scott Burton
• Addih-Hiddisch, Hidatsa Chief (2008) by John Coleman
• Sioux Warrior (2008) by John David Brcin
• The Omaha Riverscape (2008-2009) by Jesús Moroles

After the garden was completed, 2010.

Discover Garden

This garden has sculptures like:

• Noodles & Doodles by Smith Bourne and Associates Inc.
• Folded Square Alphabet O (1987) by Fletcher Benton
• Metamorphosis by Benard Matemera
• Yellow Ascending (1977) by George Sugarman
• Pencil Bench (2009) by Ron Parks
• 22 1/2 Degrees with Crayon Tips (2009) by Ron Parks
• Cubular (2009) by Peter McClenon Carter

Other Outdoor Sculptures

You can also find other sculptures around the museum grounds:

• Able Charlie (1983) by Kenneth Snelson
• Untitled (1981) by John Henry
• Pawn (1980) by Sidney Buchanan
• Generations (2007) by Josiah Manzi

See also

In Spanish: Museo de Arte Joslyn para niños

• Joslyn Castle, the private home built in 1903 for George and Sarah Joslyn.