Description
The Minnesota Museum of American Art, the “M,” is Saint Paul’s only art museum. Founded as the St. Paul School of Fine Arts in 1894, it was incorporated in 1927, and renamed in 1992 to reflect an increasing focus on its American art collections. The organization began to acquire art in 1939, amassing a wide-ranging collection encompassing Korean ceramics, African sculpture, German Expressionist prints, Native American art, European decorative arts, and American art. As it redefined its mission in the 1990s, over 60% of its original collections was deaccessioned.
Today, the collection comprises approximately 4,500 objects ranging from paintings, works on paper, and sculpture, to studio craft. An emphasis on Minnesota artists is a continuous thread throughout the holdings. The collection is dominated by works on paper (close to 3,000), including over 200 works in all media by photographer Edward S. Curtis, and many drawings acquired from the museum’s Drawings NOW exhibitions of the 1960s and 1970s. Additional strengths include: mid-20 th -century studio craft objects, many acquired through the museum’s famed Fiber/Clay/Metal exhibitions of the 1950s and 1960s; American Impressionist and Realist paintings; over 400 works by the important American sculptor and St. Paul native Paul Manship; and over 100 works by the Minnesota Ojibwe artist George Morrison.
The M’s permanent collection has not been on view in any substantial way since the 1990s, when the museum occupied the Art Deco Jemne Building in downtown St. Paul. Since 2009, the museum has operated a gallery on the first floor of the historic Pioneer Endicott Building, designed by Cass Gilbert, which it now will claim as a permanent home. In the fall of 2018, it will open the first 20,000 square feet of this first-floor space, including an upgraded gallery space, sculpture court, skyway entrance, and education center. One year later, it will debut 12,000 square feet of space for the permanent collection and an art study room.
The M seeks a grant to support the inaugural installation of its distinctive, yet under-recognized collection of American art in these highly anticipated new quarters. The suite of permanent collection galleries will to feature a gallery devoted to the work of Paul Manship, where the installation will rotate three times per year, and four additional, expansive galleries that will feature selections from the holdings of American Impressionism, the Aschcan School, Regionalism, mid-century and contemporary studio craft, drawings and photographs, works by Minnesota artists, and contemporary Native American art.
The project leader will be a part-time, contract curator Betsy Carpenter, formerly a curator at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis (2001 to 2015) where she executed several permanent collection reinstallations. The curatorial team will include the Executive Director, Curator of Exhibitions and Public Programs, Curator of Learning and Engagement Courtney Gerber, and Registrar Mai Vang. Grant funds would support: collection review and research; interpretive materials; conservation; gallery furnishings; gallery guide and map; cell phone tours; and videos on Paul Manship, the studio craft collection, and the Cass Gilbert-designs for the Pioneer Endicott Building.
The project promises to showcase a collection that is too little-known, even among specialists in the field, and that is bound to be a stimulating resource for the St. Paul and greater Twin Cities communities.
Recommendation: That the Directors of the Henry Luce Foundation approve a two-year grant of $325,000 to the Minnesota Museum of American Art for the inaugural collection installation.
Approved by the Board: March 7, 2018
