Ulrich Museum facts for kids
The Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art is a cool place to see modern and contemporary art. It's located on the campus of Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas.
Museum History
The Ulrich Museum first opened its doors on December 7, 1974. It is still in the same building, the McKnight Art Center, today. A famous architect named Charles F. McAfee designed the building.
The museum is well-known for a huge mosaic on its outside wall. This mosaic was made by the artist Joan Miró. It's called Personnages Oiseaux, which means Bird People. This amazing artwork is about 28 feet tall and 52 feet wide. It is made from thousands of tiny pieces of Venetian glass and marble.
The museum also has a large collection of outdoor sculptures. This is called the Martin H. Bush Outdoor Sculpture Collection. It has 80 artworks spread out over 330 acres of the university campus. In 2006, Public Art Review magazine said it was one of the top ten campus sculpture collections! You can see sculptures by artists like Fernando Botero, Andy Goldsworthy, Auguste Rodin, and Joan Miró. This outdoor collection is part of the museum's main collection. The museum owns about 6,500 art pieces in total.
The museum's main collection has more than 7,000 artworks. It includes pieces by many important artists. Some of these artists are Diane Arbus, Nan Goldin, Gordon Parks, and Andy Warhol. The collection also has many works by artists like Lee Adler and Harry Sternberg.
About Personnages Oiseaux
The Personnages Oiseaux (Bird People) mural is a special artwork. It was created by the artist Joan Miró. This mural is made from thousands of tiny pieces called tesserae. These pieces are made of glass and marble. Miró first painted the design. Then, a company in France called Ateliers Loire turned it into a mosaic.
This mural is very unique because it's Miró's only one made with glass and marble. He made only eleven murals in his whole life. The Bird People mural was on the museum's south wall from 1978. However, in 2011, it had to be taken down for repairs. The mural was losing many tiles each year. The repairs cost about $2.2 million. The beautiful mural was finally put back on the wall in 2016.
