museum
15 years
The Spencer Museum of Art, pegged as 'one of the best university museums in the country' celebrates 15 years of art at the University of Kansas.
By James J. Reece Kansan staff writer
ore than a century ago, the University of Kansas owned one piece of art—the marble bust of Amos Lawrence—the founder who donated the piece in 1878.
Now the Spencer Museum of Art houses
Now the Spencer Museum of Art houses more than 21,000 exhibits and a growing national reputation in the field of art.
"The Spencer Museum is very highly regarded by its peers as one of the best university museums in the country," said museum director, Andrea S. Norris.
She said the art museum's popularity in the United States and Europe was due to the quality and size of its collections.
"Sometimes I think we may be better known in New York and London than we are in Kansas," Norris said.
This month the art museum celebrates its 15th anniversary as home to the vast art collection with a rich tradition in art and a long history of generous donors.
The collection spans centuries of art with samples of medieval sculpture, German and Austrian baroque objects and 20th century Chinese paintings.
Norris said that she found nothing unusual in how the University's art collection began, and that many college collections began in a similar fashion.
But Norris did point out a noteworthy peculiarity in the history of art at KU.
"Some of the most important supporters of the museum have been women," she said.
In 1917, Salle Casey Thayer of Kansas City, Mo., donated a 7,500 piece collection of paintings, prints, sculptures, drawings, rugs and other items amassed throughout 40 years and mostly in tours of Europe and Asia. With the help of RU opened its first art museum 11 years later in Spoonbrook Hall, which now is home of the KU anthropology museum.
For more than two decades, the Thayer collection was the hub of the KU art department, making up the sole exhibit in that time at Spooner. But in the 60s, the museum had a large collection of 18 years before relief from the cramped quarters arrived.
That relief came in 1974, when Helen Foresman Spencer donated $4.6 million for a new building. Four years later, the building was dedicated as the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art to house the University's art collection, the Kress Foundation Department of Art History and the Murphy Library of Art and Architecture.
On Jan. 23, the art museum will celebrate its 15th anniversary, and the generosity of its supporters with dinner, musical performances and a preview of its latest exhilaration. The avian Avant-Garde: Prints, Drawings and Books ca. 1890."
The event is open only to members of Friends of the Art Museum, a group which started in 1965 and today has many exhibitors.
Chancellor Gene A. Budig, and former Chancellor W. Clark Wescowce will be at the reception and will have as guest of honor, His Excellency Juan Cassiers, the Belgian Ambassador to the United States.
See related story, Page 8.
Top right: Julie Butler, a Wichita senior majoring in textiles, studies "Flag Story Quilt," by Faith Ringgold, in the Spencer Museum of Art. Above: The facade of the Spencer Museum of Art Right: The entrance of the museum
Photos by Andrew Arnone
Before the Helen Foresman
Before the Heilen norskish
Spencer Museum of Art
and Design, a collection
collection was housed in Strong
Hall, then Spooner Hall.
1878
Amos Lawrence makes the first art donation to the University.
1894
Spooner Hall, the saft building on campus, is dedicated as a library.
1917
Sallie Casey Thayer donates a 7,500 piece art collection to the University, which has no art collections. Those pieces are kept in Strong Hall.
1926
Spooner Hall becomes the University's art museum.
1974
Helen Foresman Spencer donates $4.6 million for a new museum
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
People and places at the University of Kansas.
calendar
Lectures and panel discussions
Community Relations: "Creating a Vision" Speaker: Ann B. Garvin, National President of Church Women United and an observer of the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots last summer
2 to 4 p.m., Jan. 24, First United Methodist Church, 946 Vermont St.
Sponsored by the department of American studies, Friends of KU's Women's Studies and Lawrence Alliance
Seminar: "Rape," 7-9 p.m., Jan. 20, Regionalist Room, Kansas University
Facilitator: Sarah Russell, director, Rape Victim Support Services
Sponsored by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. 864-3552
Office of Study Abroad:
Office of Study Abroad:
Informational meeting on studying French abroad
3 p.m., Jan. 25, 4007 Wescoe
Exhibits
Keith Haring Prints, William Burroughs Text Through Jan. 31. North Balmoral Gallery. Spencer Mus
cony Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art
Les XX Belgian Avant-Garde: Prints, Drawings,
Books circa. 1890
Jan. 24, Kress Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art
Milestones: KU's Museum of Natural History from 1866 to 1992 Displaying until March, fifth floor of the Museum of Natural History.
Student Assistance Center Workshops
Taking Care of Calculus
7- 9 p.m., Jan. 19, 4020 Wescoe
Listening and Notetaking
7 - 9 p.m., Jan. 20, 4020 Wescoe
Learning a Foreign Language
7·9 p.m., Jan. 21, 4020 Wescoe