| DeCordova Museum | |
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Location of deCordova in Massachusetts
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| Established | October 10, 1950[1] |
| Location | 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts |
| Director | Dennis Kois |
| Public transit access | Lincoln stop on the Fitchburg MBTA Line |
| Website | http://www.decordova.org |
The DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum is a sculpture park and art museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts focused on modern and contemporary art, and holds a collection focused on work in all media, especially works by artists with connections to New England. The photography collection is particularly strong and the exhibitions program emphasizes sculpture.
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Julian de Cordova, a Boston businessman, had a personal collection of visual arts which he often opened to the public. He donated his property to the town of Lincoln in 1930 with the condition that it become a public museum of art after his death. De Cordova died in 1945, and the trustees he appointed determined that it should focus on living regional artists and art education,[2] and established the DeCordova and Dana Museum and Park in 1948. It opened to the public in 1950. The founding director of the museum was Frederick P. Walkey, whose innovative concepts for a regional museum of living art combined with art festivals, camps, and classes, helped establish a new model for small regional museums in the United States.[3] It was popularly known as the DeCordova Museum, and officially changed its name to the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in 2009.
Its highlight is a 35-acre (140,000 m2) park overlooking Flint's Pond (also known as Sandy Pond) with approximately 70 outdoor sculptures and installations; it also has several indoor galleries with a rotating series of special exhibitions, a studio art school, gift shop, cafe, and functions spaces. The park's permanent collection is small but important, including works by Antony Gormley, George Rickey, Alexander Liberman, Nam June Paik and others. Additionally, prominent works by Ursula von Rydingsvard, Sol LeWitt, Type A, Mark diSuvero, Chakaia Booker, Bartow + Metzgar, Jim Dine and other artists are displayed on rotating loan, and the park features rotating installations of new and site-specific contemporary work.
The Museum School at DeCordova has 75 instructors, and about 4,000 students enroll annually. In its curriculum there are 100 adult classes/workshops each term, 20–30 children's classes, and children's summer programs throughout July. The facility includes seven studios for Calligraphy, Ceramics, Jewelry, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Watercolor art. Other programs at the school include book arts, collage, fiber, the decorative arts, and photography.