Indianapolis Museum of Art - Collections

Collections

The Indianapolis Museum of Art has a permanent collection of over 54,000 works that represent cultures from around the world and span over 5,000 years. Areas of the collection include: European painting and sculpture; American painting and sculpture; prints, drawings, and photographs; Asian art; art of Africa, the South Pacific, and the Americas; ancient art of the Mediterranean; Design Arts; textile and fashion arts; and contemporary art. The museum holds a significant collection of Neo-Impressionist paintings and prints, many of which were gifted in 1977 by local industrialist W. J. Holliday. Combined with the Neo-Impressionist collection is the Samuel Josefowitz Collection of Gauguin and the School of Pont-Aven, which includes highlights such as Bretons in a Ferryboat by Émile Bernard. The IMA also holds a large collection of works by J.M.W. Turner, containing highlights such as the 1820 watercolor, Rosslyn Castle. The collection, which was formed by a substantial donation by philanthropist Kurt Pantzer in 1979, includes over fifty watercolors, as well as oil paintings, prints, and etchings.

The European collection, which is organized into works before 1800 and works from 1800–1945, includes highlights such as Aristotle by Jusepe de Ribera and The Flageolet Player on the Cliff by Paul Gauguin. Rembrandt's Self-Portrait is part of the Clowes Fund Collection, which comprises a number of significant Old Masters pieces. Part of the Neo-Impressionist collection, The Channel of Gravelines, Petit Fort Philippe by Georges Seurat was one of the first works to be donated by Caroline Marmon Fesler in the 1940s. Fesler would go on to donate a number of important works, including her bequest in 1961 of notable 20th century modernism pieces that included Pablo Picasso, Chagall, and Matisse. Pieces in the American collection represent American Impressionism and Modernism, including works by Georgia O'Keeffe and George Inness. Significant pieces include Hotel Lobby (1943) by Edward Hopper and Boat Builders by Winslow Homer.

The museum has a substantial Asian art collection, with more than 5,000 pieces spanning 4,000 years. Most notable is the IMA's acclaimed collection of Japanese Edo Period paintings, scrolls, and screens. Highlights include A Thousand Peaks and Myriad Ravines, a Ming Dynasty work by Wu Bin, and Buddhist, Daoist, and Confucian Patriarchs, an Edo period panel by Kano Sanraku, in addition to a number of Chinese ceramics and bronzes that were donated by Eli Lilly in 1961, such as a fine Shang bronze guang. The IMA's collection is also made up of more than 2,000 pieces of African art and artifacts, 1,200 of which were donated by Harrison Eiteljorg in 1989. The IMA has expanded the collection to include both historical and contemporary objects from every major region of Africa, including Egypt. The museum is unique in its inclusive display of Islamic and ancient Egyptian works within the African gallery, rather than with Greek or Roman antiquities. Significant pieces include a female ancestor figure of the Senufo people and Magbo helmet mask for Oro association by master carver Onabanjo of Itu Meko.

The museum's textile and fashion art collection is made up of 7,000 items, including 20th century, custom-designed costumes by Givenchy, Chanel, and Balmain. The collection includes a number of the world's fabric traditions, including African textiles donated by sisters Eliza and Sarah Niblack between 1916 and 1933 and a significant collection of Baluchi rugs. Based on the museum's early history of collecting textiles, items range from couture to silks and antique laces spanning 500 years. Some notable pieces include an Imperial Russian court dress by designer Charles Frederick Worth and Bodhisattva of Wisdom (Mañjusri), a Ming Dynasty silk panel. The museum's Design Arts collection is made up of European and American pieces from the Renaissance to the present. The collection includes Eliel Saarinen's sideboard designed in 1929 for The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition The Architect and the Industrial Arts: An Exhibition of Contemporary American Design and the Bubbles chaise longue designed by Frank Gehry in 1979 for the Experimental Edges Series.

In recent years the IMA has begun to focus on developing its contemporary art collection, which includes works such as Two White Dots in the Air by Alexander Calder and Light and Space III, a permanent installation by Robert Irwin located in the Pulliam Great Hall. Since 2007 the museum has featured site-specific contemporary installations in the Efroymson Pavilion, rotating the temporary works every six months. The Efroymson Pavilion has featured works by artists such as William Lamson, Ball-Nogue Studio, Orly Genger, and Heather Rowe to name a few. Contemporary art is also featured in 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art and Nature Park, which is unique in its inclusion of commissioned works by emerging mid-career artists. Since 2007, the IMA has committed to building a modern design collection that illustrates the artistic merits of utilitarian objects. The focus on international contemporary design, combined with the opening of the Miller House in 2011, is expected to reposition the museum as an authority on design.