On one wall hang Georgia O’Keeffe’s abstract flowers and landscapes on another, Lew Davis’s grim works featuring copper camps. The American art collection has a particular emphasis on Western American art, with pieces inspired by the Southwest. The impressionist and post-impressionist work by artists like Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro form a bridge from Europe to the Americas, and from the 19th century to contemporary works. There were Dutch genre paintings of daily life, austere portraits of 18th-century nobles, and larger-than-life works dating back to the Spanish Colonial days in Mexico. As I wandered through the rooms, I took a whirlwind tour through the centuries and countries. Here, Italian Renaissance pieces ushered me into the wing. I started my visit in the Upper Level of the North Wing. When I visited the museum in March, I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of collections or a range of pieces-would it be largely contemporary, or focus on a geographic point of interest? However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the museum’s collection was very diverse in terms of time periods and geographic point of origin. There is also an interactive gallery for children and an outdoor sculpture garden to enjoy. Spread throughout the year are festivals, performances, art films and educational programs put on by the museum. The museum has nine permanent collections-American, Asian, Contemporary, European, Fashion, Latin American, Modern, Photography, and Western American-which are spread across three floors and two wings. Behind the thick concrete walls of the museum resides the largest collection of art in the American Southwest-over 18,000 works of art spanning across centuries and continents. The Phoenix Art Museum, established in 1959, is housed in a large modern building close to Downtown Phoenix. The effect is playful but thought-provoking and provides a fresh twist on a theme that runs throughout the museum. Instead, Scholder’s pop-art infused pieces are vague, sometimes blurred shapes, outlined in bright colors but filled in haphazardly, with mottled tones. There is no sign of the stereotypes often cast upon Native Americans usually seen in Western American art-no long tired faces, intricate headdresses or warm earth tones.
Phoenix art museum full#
The pieces, which line the walls of the airy, large gallery, are full of pinks, oranges, blues and green. Titled Super Indian, the exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum is an explosion of color. Super Indian ExhibitionĪrtist Fritz Scholder’s words stand on the wall of the Kemper and Ethel Marley Foundation gallery in both English and Spanish, next to one of his paintings, and provide a simple explanation for his work.ĭespite the warm, sunny weather outside, there are still a handful of visitors milling around the exhibition, pausing to glance at each piece intently-and with good reason.
Spanning across centuries and continents with its variety of artworks
Shannon Broderick photos Phoenix Art Museum: A Mixture of New and Old Phoenix Art Museum truly means “cool art, in a cool place.Mountain Man, a bronze statue by Frederic Remington at the Phoenix Art Museum. You can even match your fashion sense with that of the great designers in the Museum’s fashion design gallery, featuring today’s hip styles and those spanning the past four centuries from the Museum’s collection. With a collection of over 17,000 works of American, Asian, European, Latin American, modern and contemporary, and Western American art, there’s something for every taste at Phoenix Art Museum. One of the nation’s leading art museums, it is a popular Valley oasis with unique and stunning exhibitions of the world’s best art, casual and fun events and activities, Movies at the Museum, Music at the Museum, video and light installations, an MP3 audio guide to the art, great shopping and dining, a one-acre sculpture garden and many comfortable architectural niches where one can just relax and rejuvenate. With the grand opening of its recent $50 million expansion, Phoenix Art Museum has re-invented the museum experience, with activities and pleasures for all the senses.