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With a world-famous collection spanning 4,500 years, and
a tradition since its inception of making its holdings available to students and the public,
the Smith College Museum of Art is also a leader in collecting and showing the art of our day.
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the Web site of the Museum of Art >
Learn
more about the Brown Fine Arts Center >
In his 1875 inaugural address, Laurenus Clark Seelye, the first
president of Smith College, called for the creation of an art gallery for the four-year-old women's
college "where the student may be made familiar with the famous masterpieces." The
first building on campus, completed that year, contained a gallery for the display of reproductions
of great works of art for students to examine.
The collection's growth since then has necessitated a number of
moves, and today, in its new home in the Brown Fine Arts Center, the Smith College Museum of
Art numbers among its holdings approximately 24,000 objects from a variety of cultures and in
a wide spectrum of media. Tryon Hall offers a modern and versatile space for the display of the
renowned permanent collection, as well as for a varied and provocative program of loan exhibitions
and temporary installations.
For the public, the museum presents an annual slate of gallery talks,
symposia, guided tours, family programs, concerts, evening seminars for adults and teachers'
workshops. School programs and special events for children, an effort to ensure that future generations
will have a familiarity with and appreciation for visual art, attract several thousand visitors
each year. |
