Almost everyone – art aficionado or not – has heard of the Louvre or New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, but such big, celebrated institutions hardly hold a monopoly on great art.
In fact, some of this country’s best art museums are ones that most people outside of art circles know little or nothing about.
Take the highly respected Albright- Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y., of all the unlikely places. It boasts what director Louis Grachos justifiably calls “an almost textbook history of 20th-century art,” yet most people have never heard of it.
“The image of Buffalo as being a kind of dying industrial town on the Great Lakes that has seen better days is kind of the bigger picture,” Grachos concedes.
“The reality of what exists here in terms of its history, long-standing commitment to building great buildings and this incredible art museum are not what people think about when they think about Buffalo.”
Similar misperceptions exist about dozens of cities and towns from Davenport, Iowa, to Fort Worth, Texas, to Andover, Mass., which all have top-ranked art institutions.
The Denver Post asked 10 of this region’s top museum professionals to name their favorite underappreciated museums – places worth a special trip or certainly a visit if you’re in the area.
Big Horn, Wyo.
Bradford Brinton Memorial and Museum
WHAT’S THE DRAW? Superb special exhibitions and the Case Trading Post, with an array of top-level Native American art.
KEY ARTISTS: Benjamin Harjo Jr., Dextra Quotskuyva, Darren Vigil-Gray
A PERSONAL LOOK “In a city awash in museums, the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian is a little-known gem. Historically known among scholars for its permanent collection of American Indian art, the current director, Jonathan Batkin, and his staff consistently create and develop some of the most exciting and important exhibits anywhere. Exhibits range from the discovery of new and innovative artists like Judith Lowry to the recent retrospective devoted to famed Hopi artist Charles Loloma.”
– Nancy Blomberg, curator of native arts, Denver Art Museum
CONTACT: 800-607-4636 or wheelwright.org.
LOS ANGELES
Museum of Jurassic Technology
WHAT’S THE DRAW?A wonderfully odd, eccentric museum with an assortment of bizarre relics.
A PERSONAL LOOK: “I was inspired to seek
out this museum after reading a book by
Lawrence Weschler called Mr. Wilson’s
Cabinet of Wonder.’ It highlights this small,
private museum in an out-of-the way location
in Culver City. It has the most unusual
array of curious exhibits that are part natural
history, social history and Ripley’s Believe
It or Not. Here are some highlights: the
ant with a fungus horn growing out of its
brain; humans who grew hair horns out of
their foreheads and a sculpture of Pope John
Paul II carved from a human hair.”
Cathy Wright, chief curator, Colorado
Springs Fine Arts Center
CONTACT:310-836-6131 or mjt.org.
NEW YORK CITY
El Museo del Barrio
WHAT’S THE DRAW? A community-based museum
dedicated to Puerto Rican, Caribbean
and Latin American art.
KEY ARTISTS: Beatriz Gonzalez, Ester Hernandez,
Alfredo Jaar
A PERSONAL LOOK: “I am always surprised
about how many people involved in the arts
who visit New York never visit El Museo
del Barrio. It has a similar mission as the Museo
de las Américas, and for a little exhibition
space (a little bigger than the Museo), it
has big ideas. When walking through the museum,
I enjoyed the journey of going from
space to space. When you would think you
have come to the end of the exhibition, you
would turn the corner and find yet more
wonderful works.”
Patty Ortiz, executive director, Museo de
las Américas
» CONTACT: 212-831-7272 or elmuseo.org.
TEPOTZOTLÁN, MEXICO
Museo Nacional del Virreinato
WHAT’S THE DRAW? A well-preserved
17th-century seminary housing the national
collection of Mexican colonial art.
A PERSONAL LOOK “One of the best-kept secrets
among museums in North America,
the Museo Nacional del Virreinato is
housed in a huge 17th-century compound
that served as a training seminary for Jesuit
priests in Mexico. The main church was redecorated
in the lavish Mexican late-baroque
style in the 1760s and retains its elaborately
carved-stone facade on the exterior
and its shimmering, gold interior altarscreens
filled with sculptures and paintings.
Large and small rooms are used for the exhibition
of portraits, furniture from the era,
decorative arts and large quanitites of Asian
arts imported to Mexico.”
Donna Pierce, curator of Spanish colonial
art, Denver Art Museum
» CONTACT: inah.gob.
mx/muse1/html/muse14.html
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
WHAT’S THE DRAW? The national museum
devoted to the history of American art.
KEY ARTISTS: Thomas Moran, Winslow
Homer, Jacob Lawrence
A PERSONAL LOOK: “This Smithsonian
branch is an often-overlooked treasure
among the museums of Washington, D.C. Its
location off the Mall in what has been a dilapidated
part of the city undoubtedly deters
visitors, but every visit I have made has
been fulfilling, from revisiting Thomas Moran’s
monumental paintings to temporary exhibitions
that have featured such artists as
Gene Davis. It also mounted the now-legendary
‘America as West’ exhibition that engaged
us in rethinking our history in recent
years.”
Susan Moldenhauer, director and chief curator,
University of Wyoming Art Museum
» CONTACT: 202-275-1500 or americanart.si.
edu
SANTA FE
Wheelwright Museum
of the American Indian
WHAT’S THE DRAW? Superb special
exhibitions and the Case Trading
Post, with an array of top-level Native
American art.
KEY ARTISTS: Benjamin Harjo Jr.,
Dextra Quotskuyva, Darren
Vigil-Gray
A PERSONAL LOOK “In a city awash in
museums, the Wheelwright Museum
of the American Indian is a littleknown
gem. Historically known
among scholars for its permanent
collection of American Indian art,
the current director, Jonathan Batkin,
and his staff consistently create
and develop some of the most exciting
and important exhibits anywhere.
Exhibits range from the discovery
of new and innovative artists
like Judith Lowry to the recent retrospective
devoted to famed Hopi artist
Charles Loloma.”
Nancy Blomberg, curator of native
arts, Denver Art Museum
» CONTACT: 800-607-4636 or
wheelwright.org.
DES MOINES, IOWA
Des Moines Art Center
WHAT’S THE DRAW? A modern and contemporary
art museum with buildings by Eliel Saarinen,
I.M. Pei and Richard Meier.
KEY ARTISTS: Grant Wood, Frank Stella, Jeff
Koons
A PERSONAL LOOK: “The Des Moines Art Center
successfully secures some of the most important
exhibitions that travel around the United
States. Recent examples include the Hirshhorn’s
Ana Mendieta exhibition and the San
Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s Richard
Tuttle exhibition. Their collection is extraordinary,
and that is often cited as a key factor
choosing the place as a tour venue.”
Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson, director and
chief curator, Aspen Art Museum.
» CONTACT: 515-277-4405
or desmoinesartcenter.org.
MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee Museum of Art
WHAT’S THE DRAW? Spanish architect Santiago
Calatrava’s spectacular Quadracci Pavilion,
his first American building.
KEY ARTISTS: George Bellows, Ernst Ludwig
Kirchner, Eva Hesse
A PERSONAL LOOK: “The Milwaukee Art Museum
is a particularly telling example of how curatorial
vision can overcome budget constraints.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s,
the museum had meager acquisition funds.
Rather than not collecting at all, it chose to
buy works by young American artists who
were beginning to redefine the fields of painting
and sculpture. Spending no more than
$10,000 per object, it acquired major examples
by Carl Andre, Eva Hesse, Robert Smithson
and others, resulting in one of the strongest
collections of minimalism and postminimalism
in the country.”
Dean Sobel, project director, Clyfford Still
Museum, Denver
» CONTACT: 414-224-3200 or mam.org.
NEW YORK CITY
Brooklyn Museum
WHAT’S THE DRAW? New York’s second-largest art museum, pictured at left,
with strong holdings of Egyptian and American art.
KEY ARTISTS: Thomas Eakins, Edward Hicks, Augustus Saint-Gaudens
A PERSONAL LOOK: “The Brooklyn Museum has a fantastic art collection. It often
overlooked by visitors in favor of the powerful draw of Manhattan’s museums.
If located elsewhere, it would probably be better recognized for its star
quality. Brooklyn’s Egyptian art collection is one of the finest in the world.
took an Egyptian art class with Bernard Bothmer, then Brooklyn’s curator.
taught us how to take the subway from Manhattan’s Upper East Side to Eastern
Parkway by changing at Nevins. It was well worth the trip.”
Ron Otsuka, curator of Asian art, Denver Art Museum
» CONTACT: 718-638-5000 or brooklynmuseum.org.
CHICAGO
Intuit: The Center
for Intuitive
and Outsider Art
WHAT’S THE DRAW? A compact, up-and-coming
museum devoted to outsider or folk art.
KEY ARTISTS: William Hawkins, Minnie Evans,
Howard Finster
A PERSONAL LOOK: “Just over a decade old, Intuit
has slowly and steadfastly become a nationally respected
kunsthalle for self-taught art. One feels
very welcome, and all the staff, from those who
work in the fabulous museum shop to the guards,
are super friendly and helpful. On a visit to the
museum in October to see the world-class Anthony
Petullo Collection of International Outsider
Art, I took refuge on a rainy miserable day, seated
in a comfortable overstuffed chair, enjoying
the art and atmosphere.”
Annie Carlano, senior curator, Museum of International
Folk Art, Santa Fe
