Weatherspoon Art Museum
The Weatherspoon Museum of Art is located at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and has one of the largest collections of modern and contemporary art in the Southeast, focusing on American art. Its program includes fifteen or more exhibitions per year, year-round educational activities and scientific publications. The Weatherspoon Museum of Art was accredited by the American Association of Museums in 1995 and reaccredited in 2005. Woman’s College Art Gallery Founded in 1941 by Gregory Ivy, the first chair of the art department at Woman’s College (now UNCG). formerly a physics laboratory in the McIver Building, it is the first art gallery in the University of North Carolina system. The following year, the gallery was officially named in honor of Elizabeth McIver Weatherspoon, art teacher and Woman’s College alumna and sister. the late University President Charles Duncan McIver. Over seventy years, Weatherspoon has grown from a teaching gallery to a fully accredited professional museum. In 1985, Weatherspoon received funding to construct the Anne and Benjamin Cone Building. The majority of the 42,000-square-foot building, designed by Romaldo Giurgola of Mitchell/Giurgola Architects in Philadelphia and New York, Weatherspoon includes, among other things, six galleries, a sculpture garden, an atrium, an auditorium and two warehouses. shared with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Art Department. From the beginning, Weatherspoon focused on building a permanent collection of modern and contemporary art.
The permanent collection of nearly 6,000 works of mostly American art represents all major art movements from the early 20th century to the present day. Included are works by Willem de Kooning, Louise Bourgeois, Knox Martin, Robert Rauschenberg, John Marin, Alexander Calder, Robert Henri, Cindy Sherman, Sol Le Witt, Louise Nevelson, Eva Hesse, and Andy Warhol. Other highlights of the collection include Dillard’s collection of art on paper; Etta and Claribel Cone Collection; Lenoir C. Wright Collection of Japanese Prints; and The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty Countries. Since 1965, the Weatherspoon Museum of Art has received funding from Dillard Paper Company (now xpedx) to present Art on Paper, a biennial exhibition featuring local, national and international artists who have created significant works on or on paper. Purchased through the Dillard Foundation, the collection of works on paper includes nearly 550 items and includes works by Louise Bourgeois, Brice Marden, Knox Martin, Joan Mitchell, Robert Smithson, Frank Stella, Eva Hesse and Amy Cutler. In 1950, 242 works of art were received through the bequest of Etta and Dr. Claribel Cone. The collection includes prints and bronzes by Henri Matisse and a large number of contemporary prints and drawings, including works by Pablo Picasso, Felix Valloton, Raoul Dufy and John Graham. Dr. Lenoir C. Wright, UNCG professor emeritus before his death in 2003, systematically built a collection of Japanese prints, initially as a teaching tool, and later donated his collection to the Weatherspoon Museum of Art. Wright’s collection of Japanese woodblock prints includes over 500 works of art and major printmakers such as Hiroshige, Hokusai and Yoshitoshi. The collection was the centerpiece of a major traveling exhibition and was accompanied by a catalog by Dr. Allen Hockley of Dartmouth College. In 2008, the Weatherspoon Museum of Art was selected as the North Carolina museum to receive 50 works on paper from the collection of Dorothy and Herbert Vogel. Through the National Gallery of Art, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the couple donated 2,500 works from their 4,000 collection to public institutions across the country, calling the Dorothy and Herbert program.
The Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty Countries. Vogels’ contributions to Weatherspoon include Stephen Antonakos, Robert Barry, Lynda Benglis, Charles Clough, Don Hazlitt, Ralph Iwamoto, Bill Jensen, Alain Kiril, Michael Lucero, Lucio Pozzi, Edda Renouf, Judy Rifka, Lori Taschler and Richard Tuttle. The Weatherspoon Sculpture Garden has 7,000 square feet of natural plantings, flowers and shrubs and features modern and contemporary artists such as Elie Nadelman, George Rickey, Dan Graham, Deborah Butterfield and Antony Gormley. Named after benefactors Herbert and Louise Falk and supported by donations, the Falk Visiting Artist Program was launched in 1982. A collaborative program between Weatherspoon and the UNCG Art Department brings nationally and internationally known artists to campus. During both the fall and spring semesters, Weatherspoon will host an exhibition of a visiting artist’s work, and during the multi-day residency, he will conduct studio visits with MFA graduate students and give a public lecture to the Greensboro and campus communities. The Weatherspoon Museum of Art at UNC Greensboro enriches the lives of diverse individuals and connects multiple communities both on and off campus by exhibiting, interpreting and collecting modern and contemporary art. Recognizing its central role as a public service, Weatherspoon promotes an appreciation of art’s ability to positively impact lives.