Wolfsonian-FIU
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| Wolfsonian-Florida International University | |
| Established | 1986, incorporated as an FIU department in 1997 |
|---|---|
| Location | 1001 Washington Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida, USA |
| Director | Cathy Leff |
| Website | www.wolfsonian.org |
The Wolfsonian-Florida International University, commonly known as the Wolfsonian-FIU, is a Florida International University museum located in the historic art deco district of Miami Beach, Florida. As of 2006, it also has a branch in Nervi, Italy.
The Wolfsonian-FIU museum was founded in 1986 by Mitchell Wolfson, Jr., as a place to help display and preserve his personal art collection.[1] He donated the building and collection to Florida International University in 1997.[2] The museum exhibits currently occupy 3 floors in the renovated 7-story warehouse (56,000 square feet), with its workshops, offices, and a library occupying the remaining space.
The collections feature interior furnishings, paintings and sculpture, books, prints, and posters that reflect the social, political and technological changes from 1885 to 1945. Artifacts are primarily of North American and European origin. Principle collections are as follows:
- American industrial design - posters, graphic designs, patent models, trade catalogs, and samples, as well as objects such as cameras, clocks, radios, and phonographs. Designers include Donald Deskey, Walter Dorwin Teague, Kem Weber, and John Vassos.
- British Arts and Crafts movement - works by C.R. Ashbee, Christopher Dresser, Ernest Gimson, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, William Morris, M.H. Baillie Scott, etc. Said to be the largest such collection outside the United Kingdom.
- Dutch and Italian Art Nouveau (Nieuwe Kunst and Stile Floreale) - objects, period rooms, and a large collection of Nieuwe Kunst bookbindings.
- German Design Reform - objects by the Darmstadt Art Colony, Vereinigte Werkstätten in Munich, and Deutscher Werkbund.
- New Deal America - designs produced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Art Project.
- Political Propaganda - prints, posters, drawings, books, and magazines. Propaganda from Russia/USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Spain are well-represented, and the British, Dutch, German, Italian, and United States holdings are said to be the most comprehensive in the United States
- Transportation and Travel - objects relating to ocean liners, airplanes, zeppelins, and trains.
- World Fairs and Expositions - furnishings, sculpture, paintings, and ephemera from World's Fairs since 1851.
In early 2006, the Wolfsonian opened a branch institution in Nervi, on the Italian Riviera near Genoa. This sister museum is housed within a renovated school overlooking the sea, and is administered by the City of Genoa and the Region of Liguria. It features mainly Italian fine and decorative arts, design, and architecture.
[edit] Wolfsonian-FIU Sponsored Conferences and Symposiums
- Creator, Collector, Catalyst: The University Art Museum in the Twenty-First Century, December 2006
- The Wolfsonian Education Symposium
- 2008 IMLS WebWise Conference
[edit] External links
- The Wolfsonian-FIU Website
- The Wolfsonian-FIU Library Catalog
- Current Exhibitions at The Wolfsonian-FIU
- Calendar of Events
- Official FIU Website
