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Rollins Museum of Art
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Former name Cornell Fine Arts Museum
Established 1978 (1978)
Location 1000 Holt Avenue
Winter Park, Florida
Type Art
Accreditation American Alliance of Museums
Collection size 5,000

The Rollins Museum of Art is a fantastic place to discover art! It's located on the campus of Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. This museum is special because it's the only teaching museum in the greater Orlando area. It means students can learn a lot from its collections.

The museum has more than 5,000 art pieces. These range from very old items to modern art. You can see rare paintings by old masters and a huge collection of prints, drawings, and photographs. The museum also changes its displays often, showing new temporary exhibitions alongside its permanent collection.

History of the Museum

The idea for a collection at Rollins College started around the early 1900s. Back then, it mostly had portraits of important college people and items from nature. In the 1930s, beautiful fine art pieces were added. This happened partly because the Samuel H. Kress Foundation gave the museum two Italian Renaissance paintings.

The first building made just for art on campus was the Morse Gallery of Art. It opened in 1941. Later, in 1976, George and Harriet Cornell gave money to build a new art center. This new center would include a modern museum.

The Cornell Fine Arts Museum opened its doors in 1978. Just three years later, it became the first college art museum in Florida to be officially recognized by the American Association of Museums. This organization is now called the American Alliance of Museums.

The museum building got much bigger in 2004 and 2005. It now has six galleries and a special room for studying prints. In 2013, a new space opened at The Alfond Inn. This space shows the museum's Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art. The Alfond Inn is a hotel owned by Rollins College, and its earnings help fund student scholarships.

In 2021, the museum changed its name from the Cornell Fine Arts Museum to the Rollins Museum of Art. This new name marks a fresh start for the museum. It's also part of a big project called the Innovation Triangle. This project will bring a new, larger museum building, a new spot for the Rollins College business school, and an expansion of The Alfond Inn.

What You Can See: The Collection

The museum's collection has over 5,000 items! They cover art from ancient times all the way to today. Here's a look at what they have:

  • Over 500 paintings from the 14th to the 21st centuries.
  • More than 1,500 prints, drawings, and photographs from the 15th to the 21st centuries.
  • Over 1,100 objects from different cultures and times. Many of these were part of the original natural history collection. Some were even given by the Smithsonian after a fire in the 1920s.
  • More than 1,200 watch keys from the 16th to the late 19th centuries.

Exciting Moments and Art Highlights

  • 1936: General and Mrs. John Carty gave the first old master painting. It was The Dead Christ with Symbols of the Passion by Lavinia Fontana. More gifts from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1937 and 1938 officially started the fine art collection.
  • 1948: The famous artist Grandma Moses gave her oil painting, Out on the Lake, to the college.
  • 1950s: George H. Sullivan, who lived in Winter Park, made the first big donations to the museum. These included works by William Louis Sonntag and Francesco de Mura.
  • 1960s: Rollins alumni, Jack and June Myers, donated many important old master pieces. These included works by Gerolamo Bassano, Jacopo Tintoretto, Thomas Lawrence, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Pieter Claesz.
  • 2000: Kenneth Curry left over 30 paintings and drawings from the Bloomsbury Group to the museum.
  • 2008: The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts donated 156 photographs and polaroids. This was part of the Andy Warhol Photographic Legacy Program.
  • 2013: Barbara and Ted Alfond donated The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art. By 2015, this collection had over 230 paintings, photographs, sculptures, and mixed media works. These were by both well-known and new contemporary artists from all over the world.
  • 2021: The museum officially changed its name to the Rollins Museum of Art. This change is part of a big plan for a new, modern museum building. This new building will be part of the Innovation Triangle project, which also includes new facilities for the business school and an expanded hotel.

Artists You Might Know

Here are some of the amazing artists whose works are in the museum's collection:

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