Foreword
HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY MUSEUM W h e r e A r t I n s p i r e s a n d Tr a n s f o r m s
September 2010 marks the beginning of the 75th anniversary of Hofstra University, a significant benchmark in the history of this institution.
Since its founding as a liberal arts college in 1935, the arts have been integral to its academic and cultural life. In tandem with the growth of Hofstra, as early as 1949 major gifts of art began to be donated to the school. One of the earliest major donors was Mrs. W. Halsted VanderPoel, who contributed 19thcentury French bronze and marble sculptures as well as paintings, furniture and numerous decorative art objects to Hofstra. Art donors, in fact, whether they are alumni, art collectors, artists, faculty, friends, or trustees, have played a significant and enduring role in the development of what is now known as the Hofstra University Museum (HUM). Officially opened in 1963, the Hofstra University Museum has been an American Association of Museums (AAM) -accredited institution since 1985, with its most recent subsequent accreditation awarded in 2009. AAM awards this distinction only to museums that have achieved excellence in all areas of their operations and educational mission. Currently, the Hofstra University Museum is the sole university-based museum on Long Island to have received this level of recognition. During the past eight decades, the permanent collection has grown to nearly 5,000 works of art and ethnographic objects that represent six continents, dating from the pre-Columbian to the contemporary. This growth and diversity has come almost exclusively through the generosity of art donors. It is fair to say that the Hofstra University Museum would not be the success it is today without the commitment of our art donors, and their understanding of the role of philanthropy in helping the Museum and Hofstra University achieve their educational goals and objectives.
The Museum also owes a debt of gratitude to those presidents, provosts, vice presidents, directors, professional staff, faculty, and volunteers who have provided leadership throughout the years, guiding the direction of acquisitions that have so enriched the collection. In the early 1960s Hofstra University Fine Arts Professor John Hopkins stated, “Beyond the collection’s obvious value to art students and historians it enables those in other disciplines to view and integrate their understanding of the visual arts.” Those words are as meaningful today as they were almost 50 years ago.
exhibitions, its outdoor sculpture and its interpretive programs, the Museum is committed to being a vital partner in the educational, pedagogical, and cultural life of Hofstra University students, faculty and staff, as well as the residents of the greater New York metropolitan region. It strives to achieve this mission by adherence to the highest professional standards in the collection, preservation, exhibition and interpretation of works of art. This exhibition, Acquired Riches: Highlights From the Hofstra University Museum Collection, is knowledgeably and sensitively curated by Assistant Director of Exhibitions and Collections Karen T. Albert, and is offered in celebration of the 75th anniversary of Hofstra. The exhibition selections provide examples of the diverse elements of the Museum’s collection with works that include paintings by Karel Appel, Edwin Dickinson, Conrad Felixmüller, Paul Gauguin, George Grosz, Johan Barthold Jongkind and Joan Mitchell; works on paper by Jean Charlot, Arthur Bowen Davies, James Rosenquist and George Rouault; photographs by Donna Fer rato, Ralph Gibson, Danny Lyon, August Sander and Andy Warhol; and works from Africa, China, Japan, Mexico and Oceania. The exhibition installation recognizes the significant impact that art donors have had, through their gifts of authentic and unique objects, on the Museum’s core mission and its ability to impact Hofstra students and faculty, as well as residents of the New York metropolitan region, as they utilize and study the collection to create, delight, experiment, explore, grow, imagine, learn, teach….
Acquired Riches:
Today, the Museum is a vital learning laboratory for more than 12,000 individuals a year, where works of art make curricular connections and engage students and faculty in multicultural explorations so essential in our global society. Each year Hofstra University students in disciplines as varied as anthropology, art histor y, creative writing, dance education, elementary education, journalism, and psychology, to name a few, utilize exhibitions and permanent collection works to enhance and underscore concepts and learning objectives that have clear relevance to their curricula.
Highlights From the Hofstra University Museum Collection
The Hofstra University Museum’s mission, as adopted in 2006, has changed through the years from one that focused primarily on collection care, to the following: The Hofstra University Museum is dedicated to furthering the understanding and enjoyment of the visual arts. It helps people to make deep and long-lasting connections to works of art as well as to the varied cultures from which they originate. Through its collections and
Beth E. Levinthal Executive Director, Hofstra University Museum
In Celebration of the 75th Anniversary of Hofstra University 1