Weatherspoon Art Museum facts for kids
The Weatherspoon Art Museum is a cool place to explore art! It's located at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). This museum has one of the biggest collections of modern and contemporary art in the southeastern United States, especially focusing on American art. They put on many art shows each year, offer fun educational activities for all ages, and even publish books about art.
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The Museum's Story
The Weatherspoon Art Museum started way back in 1941. It was founded by Gregory Ivy, who was the first head of the Art Department at Woman’s College (which is now UNCG). The very first art gallery opened in an old physics lab in the McIver Building. This was a big deal because it was the first art gallery in the entire University of North Carolina system!
The next year, the gallery was officially named in honor of Elizabeth McIver Weatherspoon. She was an art teacher and a former student of Woman’s College. She was also the sister of the college's former president, Charles Duncan McIver. Over more than 70 years, the Weatherspoon grew from a small teaching gallery into a full-fledged, professional museum.
Growing Bigger and Better
In 1985, the Weatherspoon received money to build a new home called the Anne and Benjamin Cone Building. This building was designed by Romaldo Giurgola and is very large, covering 42,000 square feet! The museum takes up most of this space and includes six art galleries, a beautiful sculpture garden, a big open atrium, an auditorium for events, and special storage rooms for art. It also shares some features with the UNCG Department of Art.
Amazing Art Collections
From the very beginning, the Weatherspoon has focused on collecting modern and contemporary art. Today, its permanent collection has nearly 6,000 artworks, mostly by American artists. These pieces show all the major art movements from the early 1900s to today.
You can find works by famous artists like Willem de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler, Louise Bourgeois, Robert Rauschenberg, Alexander Calder, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol. The museum also has special collections such as the Dillard Collection of Art on Paper, the Etta and Claribel Cone Collection, and the Lenoir C. Wright Collection of Japanese Prints.
Art on Paper: The Dillard Collection
Since 1965, the Weatherspoon Art Museum has received support from the Dillard Paper Company (now xpedx). This support helps them put on a special art show every two years called "Art on Paper." This show features artists from around the world who create amazing works using paper.
Thanks to the Dillard Fund, the museum has bought nearly 550 artworks from these shows. This collection includes pieces by artists like Louise Bourgeois, Brice Marden, Joan Mitchell, and Frank Stella.
The Cone Sisters' Gift
In 1950, the museum received a wonderful gift of 242 artworks from Etta and Dr. Claribel Cone. This collection includes prints and bronze sculptures by the famous artist Henri Matisse. It also features many other modern prints and drawings, with works by artists like Pablo Picasso and Raoul Dufy.
Japanese Prints: The Wright Collection
Dr. Lenoir C. Wright was a professor at UNCG. He built a large collection of Japanese prints, first to help him teach, and later he gave them to the Weatherspoon Art Museum. The Wright Collection has over 500 Japanese woodblock prints. It includes works by major printmakers such as Hiroshige, Hokusai, and Yoshitoshi. This collection was even featured in a big traveling exhibition!
The Vogel Collection: Art for Every State
In 2008, the Weatherspoon Art Museum was chosen to receive 50 artworks on paper from the collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel. The Vogels were a couple who collected art, and they decided to give 2,500 works from their huge collection to public museums across the United States. This program was called The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States. The artworks given to the Weatherspoon include pieces by artists like Stephen Antonakos, Lynda Benglis, and Richard Tuttle.
Sculpture Garden: Art Outdoors
The Weatherspoon also has a beautiful sculpture garden that covers 7,000 square feet. It's filled with natural plants, flowers, and shrubs, and it's a great place to see outdoor art! The garden features sculptures by modern and contemporary artists such as Elie Nadelman, George Rickey, and Antony Gormley.
Visiting Artists Program
The Falk Visiting Artist program started in 1982, thanks to a gift from Herbert and Louise Falk. This program is a partnership between the Weatherspoon and the UNCG Art Department. It brings famous artists from all over the world to the campus.
During the Fall and Spring semesters, the Weatherspoon puts on an exhibition of the visiting artist's work. The artist also spends several days on campus, meeting with graduate art students and giving a public talk to the community. It's a great chance to learn from real artists!
