| Colby College Museum of Art | |
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Location within the state of Maine
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| Established | 1959 |
| Location | 5600 Mayflower Hill Waterville, Maine, United States |
| Type | Art museum |
| Website | www.colby.edu/academics cs/museum/about/index.cfm |
Founded in 1959, the Colby College Museum of Art now comprises four wings, more than 6,000 works, and more than 28,000 square feet (2,600 m2) of exhibition space. The Museum's permanent collection specializes in American and contemporary art. Admission is free; the Museum serves as a resource for Colby College and as a cultural institution for visitors.[1]
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The museum's American collection is built around paintings by William Merritt Chase and Winslow Homer. The Jetté Galleries contains 25 works of art by John Marin, the largest collection of Marin's work in an academic museum in the country. The American Heritage Collection contains 76 pieces by American folk artists. Other permanent collection works include the Bernat Collection of Asian Ceramics, major works by Kara Walker and Hiroshi Sugimoto, and selected European prints. Richard Serra's 4-5-6 is prominently displayed outside the main entrance to the museum.
In 1992, Alex Katz donated 414 of his own works; in 1996, an 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) wing was opened to house the collection. Colby benefactor Paul J. Schupf contributed the naming gift for the wing, called the The Paul J. Schupf Wing for the Works of Alex Katz, which showcases a rotating collection of the artist's work. The Museum now holds nearly 700 works by Alex Katz and is one of only a handful of museum wings dedicated to the work of a living artist.
The Lunder Wing, opened in 1999 for the exhibition of Colby's collection of American art, comprises 13 galleries and 9,000 square feet (840 m2) of additional exhibition space.
In 2007, Peter and Paula Lunder promised their collection of more than 500 works of art to the Museum, one of the largest art collections ever to be donated to a liberal arts college.[2]