Portland Art Museum facts for kids
The Portland Art Museum in 2019
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| Established | 1892 |
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| Location | 1219 SW Park Avenue Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Type | Art museum |
| Accreditation | American Alliance of Museums |
| Visitors | 445,000 (2002) |
The Portland Art Museum (PAM) is a cool art museum located in downtown Portland, Oregon, USA. It's one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast! The museum has a huge space, with over 112,000 square feet (about 10,400 square meters) just for showing art.
PAM's permanent collection holds more than 42,000 amazing artworks. You can find special areas for Native American art, art from the Pacific Northwest, and modern art. There are also exhibits of Asian art and a fun outdoor sculpture garden. The Northwest Film Center, which offers film festivals and classes, is also part of the museum.
The museum is officially recognized by the American Alliance of Museums, which means it meets high standards.
Contents
How the Museum Started
The Portland Art Museum began in 1892. It was first called the Portland Art Association. Seven important business and cultural leaders in Portland wanted to create an art museum for their growing city.
A man named Henry Corbett gave $10,000 to help start the museum. This money helped buy the museum's first collection, known as the Corbett Collection. It included one hundred plaster copies of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures. These copies were chosen by Winslow B. Ayer and his wife during a trip to Europe. Experts from other big museums helped them pick the best pieces. This first collection was shown at the Multnomah County Library.
Early Years and Growth
By 1905, the museum needed more space. It moved into its own building in downtown Portland. The first show in the new building featured watercolors and paintings from a big event called the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition.
In 1908, the museum bought its first original painting. It was Afternoon Sky, Harney Desert by an American artist named Childe Hassam.
Anna Belle Crocker became the museum's curator in 1909. She was a very important person in the museum's early days. She also led the Museum Art School, which is now the Pacific Northwest College of Art.
In 1913, the museum hosted a very important art show. It featured modern art that had been shown earlier that year at the famous New York Armory Show. This was a big deal because it introduced American audiences to new styles of art. The show included works by famous artists like Cézanne, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, and Marcel Duchamp.
The museum kept growing after World War I. In the 1920s, a woman named Sally Lewis helped organize two exciting exhibitions. She knew many famous artists. In 1923, she put together a show with 44 paintings by Picasso, Matisse, and other modern artists. She also helped the museum buy a painting called Tree by André Derain. A year later, she organized another unique show. It displayed European paintings and sculptures next to African masks. This show included a sculpture called A Muse by Brâncuși, which Lewis later gave to the museum.
Finding a Permanent Home
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The museum's current main building opened on November 18, 1932. It was designed by a famous architect named Pietro Belluschi. The building is located along Portland's South Park Blocks and is a well-known landmark in the city's Cultural District.
Winslow B. Ayer, who helped choose the first plaster casts, gave a large gift of $100,000 for this new building. That's why the original part of the building is called the Ayer Wing. Belluschi designed the building in a modern style. It had a simple outside because he believed the building's design should highlight the art inside, not the building itself.
In 1939, a new part of the museum, the Hirsch Wing, opened. It was also designed by Belluschi and doubled the museum's gallery space.
After World War II
In 1943, the museum took a full count of its collection. It had 3,300 art objects and 750 works on long-term loan.
The next few years saw some very popular art shows. In 1956, almost 55,000 people visited an exhibition of paintings from the collection of Walter Chrysler. In 1959, over 80,000 people came to see a Vincent van Gogh exhibition. The money from this show helped the museum buy a beautiful Water Lilies painting by Claude Monet. Also, in the 1950s, the museum started its Docent Council, which is a group of volunteers who still help the museum today.
In the 1960s, the museum added another major part, the Hoffman Memorial Wing. This new wing, also designed by Pietro Belluschi, opened in 1970. It added classrooms, studio space, a sculpture area, and an auditorium.
Over the next few decades, the museum's collections and programs continued to grow. In 1978, the Vivian and Gordon Gilkey Center for Graphic Arts opened. It holds a huge collection of works on paper. Also in 1978, the Northwest Film Center became part of the museum. It offers many film festivals, classes, and programs about movies.
The Museum Today
In 1992, the Portland Art Museum bought the building next door, which used to be a Masonic Temple. The museum then worked to improve its main building. They made the galleries better, rearranged the permanent collection, and added a climate control system. After these improvements, PAM hosted a huge exhibition called Imperial Tombs of China, which brought 430,000 visitors!
The museum renovated the former Masonic Temple and renamed it the Mark Building. It opened in 1995. This building now houses the Jubitz Center for Modern and Contemporary Art, which has six floors of art. The Mark Building also has the Crumpacker Family Library, meeting rooms, and offices.
In 2000, the Hoffman Wing was updated. This added more than 50,000 square feet (about 4,600 square meters) of new gallery space. This included the Grand Ronde Center for Native American Art and the Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Center for Northwest Art.
In 2007, the museum received a very special gift: Vincent van Gogh's 1884 painting The Ox-Cart.
In 2016, the Portland Art Museum announced plans for a new glass-walled addition called the Rothko Pavilion. This addition will connect the two existing buildings. It's part of a partnership with the children of artist Mark Rothko, who will lend some of his major paintings to the museum for many years.
The Portland Art Museum has a collection of about 40,000 objects. Brian Ferriso became the museum's director in 2006.
Amazing Artworks
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The museum has a collection of over 40,000 objects and works of art. Here are just a few of the famous pieces you might see:
- Castel Gandolfo by George Inness
- Mount Hood by Albert Bierstadt
- The finding of Moses by Giambattista Pittoni
- Arrival of the Westerners by Kano School (an old Japanese screen)
- Paris: Quai de Bercy — La Halle aux Vins by Paul Cézanne
- Water Lilies by Claude Monet
- The Prince Patutszky Red by Jules Olitski
- Seine at Argenteuil by Pierre Renoir
- River at Lavacourt by Claude Monet
- The Ox-Cart by Vincent van Gogh
- Nativity by Taddeo Gaddi
- Madonna and Child by Cecco di Pietro
- A Muse by Constantin Brâncuși
- Likunt Daniel Ailin (The World Stage: Israel) by Kehinde Wiley
- Nude with Beads (Frida Kahlo) by Diego Rivera
Oregon Biennial Art Show
The Oregon Biennial was a special biennial art show held every two years at PAM. In 2007, it changed to the Contemporary Northwest Art Awards (CNAA). This new show happens every two years and features artists from Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. One artist from the CNAA show wins a $10,000 prize.
Crumpacker Family Library
The Crumpacker Family Library started with the museum in 1892. It has over 40,000 books and other items related to art.
See also
- List of largest art museums
