American Art Museums and Collectors

The United States is home to some of the best art collections—and some of the most interesting and eclectic art collectors—in the world. This courses crosses the country looking for the foundation of some of America's more notable art museums and how they came to be. We begin with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, founded in 1805 as the first and oldest art museum and school in the country. We then visit other notable museums such as the Frick Collection, the Barnes Collection, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. We explore the colorful personalities responsible for the collections, the architecture of the museums, the art held within and favored by each collector, and the issues surrounding collecting and display from each period covered.