Wichita Art Museum

The Wichita Art Museum is an art museum located in Wichita, Kansas, United States.[1]

Wichita Art Museum
Wichita Art Museum is located in Kansas
Wichita Art Museum
Location within Kansas
Established1915 (opened 1935)
Location1400 West Museum Blvd,
Wichita, KS 67203 USA[1]
Coordinates37°41′42″N 97°21′23″W
TypeArt museum
DirectorAnne Kraybill
CuratorDr. Tera Hedrick
Websitewichitaartmuseum.org
Photograph of the exterior entrance to the Wichita Art Museum in May 2020 showing the brick and concrete Lattner and Walker Family Plaza and the doors and floor-to-ceiling windows of the museum's main entrance, which is surrounded by trees and landscaping
Exterior entrance to the Wichita Art Museum

The museum was established in 1915, when Louise Caldwell Murdock’s Will which created a trust to start the Roland P. Murdock Collection of art in memory of her husband. The trust would purchase art for the City of Wichita by “American painters, potters, sculptors, and textile weavers.” The collection includes works by Mary Cassatt, Arthur G. Dove, Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri, Douglas Abdell,[2] Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, John Marin, Paul Meltsner, Horace Pippin, Maurice Prendergast, Albert Pinkham Ryder and Charles Sheeler. The Museum's lobby features a ceiling and chandelier made by Dale Chihuly.

The museum opened in 1935 with art borrowed from other museums. The first work in the Murdock Collection was purchased in 1939. Mrs. Murdock's friend, Elizabeth Stubblefield Navas, selected and purchased works of American art for the Murdock Collection until 1962. The building was enlarged with a new lobby and two new wings in 1963. In 1964, a foundation was established for the purpose of raising funds for new acquisitions. In the 1970s, the city built a new and larger climate controlled facility. In 2003, the museum finished another expansion project giving the building a total of 115,000 square feet (10,700 m2). The current building was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes.

Tera Hedrick, an art historian and Wichita East High School graduate, was hired as curator in 2017 after serving in an interim role.[3]

In January 2020, the museum announced that it would begin renovation on its main entrance and lobby.[4]

  • Robert Feke, "Mrs Barlow Trecothick"(ca. 1748)
    Robert Feke, "Mrs Barlow Trecothick"(ca. 1748)
  • Albert Pinkham, "Ryder Moonlight on the Sea" (1884)
    Albert Pinkham, "Ryder Moonlight on the Sea" (1884)
  • Thomas Eakins, "Starting Out After Rail" (ca. 1863)
    Thomas Eakins, "Starting Out After Rail" (ca. 1863)
  • Thomas Eakins, "Mrs. Mary Hallock Greenwalt" (1903)
    Thomas Eakins, "Mrs. Mary Hallock Greenwalt" (1903)
  • Thomas Eakins, "Billy Smith" (1898)
    Thomas Eakins, "Billy Smith" (1898)
  • William Michael Harnett, "Mortality and Immortality" (1876)
    William Michael Harnett, "Mortality and Immortality" (1876)
  • Frank Weston Benson, "A Young Girl" (1895)
    Frank Weston Benson, "A Young Girl" (1895)
  • The west-facing entrance to the Wichita Art Museum in Wichita, Kansas
    The west-facing entrance to the Wichita Art Museum in Wichita, Kansas

References
  1. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) details for Wichita Art Museum; United States Geological Survey (USGS); December 8, 2008.
  2. "Wichita Art Museum to celebrate opening of $3.5 million Art Garden with a day of activities". The Wichita Eagle.
  3. Riedl, Matt (10 January 2018). "East High grad returns to Wichita to accept major job at art museum". The Wichita Eagle. Archived from the original on 20 June 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  4. "Wichita Art Museum begins $700K update of its lobby, entrance and other gathering spaces".


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