Municipal art museums hardly hold a monopoly on great art. Some of the country’s most important public collections can be found on college campuses of all kinds.
The University of Nebraska’s Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, for example, boasts a premier selection of American art, with particular strengths in impressionism, early modernism and geometric abstraction.
But as a survey exhibition of the CU Art Museum’s permanent collection makes clear, the University of Colorado at Boulder lags behind many of its peers.
It can point to some major individual works here and there and a few unusual niche holdings, such as a group of 1930s Southwestern santos, but few if any facets of its collection draw national attention.
It is not hard to understand, then, why the museum’s director, Lisa Tamiris Becker, prefers to look more at what could be than what is. As she is quick to point out, the institution holds enormous potential. To her credit, she is moving aggressively to tap it.
“If you look at most major state universities in the nation, they have great art collections, and this is what I’m trying to develop here,” she said. “And I feel like we have a tremendous start, and I’m trying to take it to the next level.”
The museum’s subpar facilities – several rooms hidden away in the back of the neglected Sibell-Wolle Fine Arts Building – significantly have impeded its ability to heighten its profile and attract donations of art and money.
That could soon change. After several years of being on hold, a $53 million visual-arts complex, including considerably expanded space for the museum, has moved to the head of the priority list for CU capital construction, said university spokeswoman Jeannine Malmsbury.
Whether the project progresses depends on the outcome of next month’s vote on Referendums C and D, she said, because $16.5 million in funding is to come from state appropriations, with the rest derived from student fees and donations.
Since her arrival in August 2002, Becker has added more than 170 works to the collection, including a large-scale relief painting by Elizabeth Murray and photos by such significant contemporary artists as John Baldessari and Cindy Sherman.
The museum has only a modest acquisitions endowment, so Becker relies mainly on donations, hoping to take advantage of the art collectors and other interested patrons in CU’s abundant nationwide alumni pool.
The big question is: What should the museum collect?
Among its more than 5,400 objects are some surprising concentrations, such as Southeast Asian ceramics. But the bulk of the museum’s holdings is devoted to works on paper, nearly 3,800 original prints alone.
While Becker wants the institution to keep adding to those holdings, she is keen to collect in other areas as well. She wants students and other visitors to have the broadest possible experience of original art.
“I am passionate about works on paper, but there is not another university in the nation that would limit its collection in that way,” she said.
She is probably right, but the museum cannot collect everything either, because of its limited size and resources. It needs to pick a few key specialties to have a chance at achieving any national recognition.
The institution recently has developed a collection management policy, which sets guidelines for quality and relevance, and it is moving to the needed next step of designating priorities for future acquisitions.
Understandably, the thrust of Becker’s acquisitions have been contemporary works, because of their availability and lower cost compared with most older art. Some collecting niches offer exciting possibilities, such as a focus on works by female photographers.
“Over time, we will hone those national-level specializations. What we’re trying to do now is build from where we are,” Becker said.
It’s hard to argue with that.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
“Selected Recent Acquisitions and Highlights of the CU Art Museum’s Permanent Collection”
THROUGH OCT. 21|Broad exhibit of more than 150 objects |CU Art Museum, Sibell-Wolle Fine Arts Building, University of Colorado at Boulder|Free|10 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 5-7 p.m. Tuesdays and noon-4 p.m. Saturdays (303-492-8300 or colorado.edu.cuartmuseum)
