Collection
The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Collection is the Museum’s permanent collection of two- and three-dimensional art. This international collection boasts over 14,000 works and spans eight centuries, with strengths in works on paper and contemporary craft, and includes notable holdings by artists from Arkansas, the American South region, and across the United States.
On View: April 22, 2023 - Ongoing
The inaugural installation in the Harriet and Warren Stephens Galleries contains more than 150 diverse works of art from the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Collection. AMFA is the only art museum in Arkansas that collects internationally and possesses more than eight centuries of artistic production.
An intimately direct artistic expression, drawing is a defining strength of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Collection. In the early 1970s, AMFA made the strategic decision to focus its collecting activities to drawings and other works on paper. Among the first works purchased were those by three living American artists—Andrew Wyeth’s Snowflakes, Willem de Kooning’s Untitled and Morris Graves’s Animal—all of which laid the foundation for future growth and are on view in these galleries. In the time since, the drawing collection has grown considerably and now contains more than 5000 examples.
The inaugural installation fills more than 15,000 square feet across five galleries. Greeting guests is a recently conserved, nearly life-sized bull painting by Elaine de Kooning, who gave a workshop in 1972 at the Museum’s Art School. The first gallery introduces guests to highlights from the collection, including a dense, floor-to-ceiling installation of contemporary craft—fiber, wood, ceramics, glass, and metal-based art, another focus of the collection—mirrored on the opposite wall by a monumental, assembled wood sculpture by Louise Nevelson.
Drawings and other works of art by Arkansas and regional artists illustrate their contributions to the broad arc of art history. John Miller Howard was a major figure in an artistic revival in the mid-South. Howard founded the art department at the now University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and taught such notable students as Tarrence Corbin, Kevin Cole, and Jeff Donaldson—who later moved to Chicago and became a founding member of the AfriCOBRA movement. Similarly, paintings by Carroll Cloar, born in Earle, Arkansas, and photographs by William Davis, noted Arkansas photographer, uniquely illustrate the Southern landscape.
As guests move into the adjacent gallery, they encounter the oldest works in the collection, ranging from the fourteenth through nineteenth centuries. These include prints, drawings, and paintings from Europe and America, including drawings by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn and Peter Paul Rubens, as well as two Italian paintings, gifts to the museum from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which laid the foundation for the international scope of the collection. Several of these works are juxtaposed with those by contemporary artists, showing the broad continuum of artistic traditions.
Recently conserved, George Romney’s portrait of Lady Willoughby de Broke is paired with a large-scale ceramic figural sculpture by Peter VandenBerge. On the far wall, an array of portraits and artists’ self-portraits illustrate the varied approaches to depicting the human figure.
The third gallery features American and European Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings and drawings, many from the Jackson T. Stephens Trust for Art Collection. These include paintings and drawings by such artists as Claude Monet, Pierre-August Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and Edgar Degas, among others. In stark contrast to the colorful palette used by the Impressionists in their paintings, a large-scale clear, blown glass still life by contemporary American artist Beth Lipman anchors one end of the gallery.
The fourth gallery is devoted to modernist works, centered around Diego Rivera’s 1914 cubist painting Dos Mujeres. An adjacent wall features a floor-to-ceiling, salon-style installation of modern sculpture and works on paper by twentieth-century artists from the United States, Russia, France, and the Netherlands.
As guests complete their diagonal path through the galleries, they end in a spacious, light-filled gallery that celebrates the AMFA’s holdings of contemporary art—many of which are large scale and complement the generous space. Recent acquisitions by ceramicists Raven Halfmoon and Peter Pincus make their debut, surrounded by paintings and works on paper by Robert Colescott, Kerry James Marshall, Gronk, Titus Kaphar, Victor Ekpuk, and Marietta Hoferer, among others.
Also in this gallery is a site-specific installation by Houston-based artist Natasha Bowdoin in the Art Perch, which features an inviting bench for guests and a picturesque 32-foot-long window overlooking Ninth Street and a sculpture installed on the north grounds.
More than 70 drawings and paintings have undergone cleaning and conservation. Additionally, audio tours will introduce new discoveries about the art on display and enhance the guest experience in the galleries, throughout the building, and the surrounding landscape.
Audio Tours
Learn more about the art on view from the permanent collection with the audio tours in AMFA's Mobile Guide.
Upcoming Events
Curator Conversations: Mad for Modernism
November 10 & 21
Join Dr. Catherine Walworth, Jackye and Curtis Finch, Jr., Curator of Drawings, for an exclusive guided tour through the galleries with a special focus on Modernist works on view from the AMFA Foundation Collection.
FAQ
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How do I request an image of a work in the AMFA collection?
Please review our Image Rights and Reproductions policy and complete the Rights and Reproduction Request form.
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How do I donate a work of art to AMFA?
The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Arts Foundation owns and maintains the works of art in the Museum's permanent collection. Please contact curators@arkmfa.org if you are interested in donating a work.
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Can AMFA help me conserve my artwork?
Please contact the American Institute of Conservation to find a trained conservator who could help preserve your artwork (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.).
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Can AMFA tell me the value of my artwork?
It is against Museum policy to place a value on any work of art. Please contact these professional organizations to find a qualified appraiser:
Sponsors
The Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts extends its gratitude to The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston and the Institute of Museum and Library Services for grant awards supporting stewardship and conservation of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts Foundation Collection.