Denver Art Museum - Part 1

When I was in Denver Colorado for a week in early December, in order to attend my grandson's first birthday party, my husband and I was able one afternoon to visit the beautiful Denver Art Museum, located on 13th Ave between Broadway and Bannock Street in the Civic Center Cultural Complex.  The museum is comprised of two buildings-- the North Building and the Frederic C. Hamilton Building. The 356,000-square-foot museum complex includes collection gallery space, three temporary exhibition venues, and the Lewis I. Sharp Auditorium. In addition to its extensive art collections, the museum has a family-friendly environment and has received critical acclaim for encouraging art appreciation through interactive activities.

This is one of the children's play areas in the museum, which encourages children to be creative through play activities and the use of art materials.

There are also comfortable "Discovery Libraries" for adults located within the museum; two examples can be seen below. Many wonderful art books and resource books were available on the libraries' bookshelves. If I were a resident of Denver I would definitely purchase a full year's membership, so that I could visit frequently and curl up on one of the couches, and read to my heart's content! (all photos will enlarge when clicked on)

The Denver Art Museum is known for its collection of American Indian Art and has a comprehensive collection numbering more than 60,000 works from around the world. The museum has nine curatorial departments: architecture, design, and graphics; Asian art; modern and contemporary; native arts (American Indian, Oceanic, and African); New World (pre-Columbian and Spanish Colonial); painting and sculpture (European and American); photography; Western art; and textile art.  The museum's motto is "Never the Same," as their exhibits change frequently to make viewing the collections more interesting for the frequent visitor.

One of the temporary exhibits we saw was called "Shape & Spirit" and consisted of more than 200 selections from the Lutz Bamboo Collection.

Examples of baskets made entirely from bamboo.

Another temporary exhibit that will run through April 4, 2010, is called "Embrace." For this exhibit, the Denver Art Museum asked 17 artists to create one-of-a-kind installations for the Frederic C. Hamilton Building -- the angular building designed by renowned architect Daniel Libeskind.

The unique space was transformed into amazing works of modern art, many of which were three-dimensional.

"Fox Games" by Sandy Skoglund, 1989

Information from the Denver Art Museum website:

" Our American Indian art collection includes more than 18,000 art objects representing the heritage of all cultures and tribes across the United States and Canada. Recognized as one of the best of its kind in the United States, the collection spans more than 2,000 years of artistic creativity, from prehistoric times to the present.

The collection includes diverse artistic traditions such as Pueblo ceramics, Navajo textiles, Northwest Coast sculpture, basketry, Plains beadwork, and oil paintings, representing the full range of American Indian art styles. Over the past 80 years, these artworks have been featured both nationally and internationally in scholarly publications, innovative exhibitions, and educational programs."

"The Living Necklace"  Pawnee tribe. Circa 1870, refurbished in 1920.  Made with otter fur and the claws of an extinct species of a grizzly bear.  It has a religious, artistic, and historical legacy.

The Elk Tooth Dress.  It is the most valuable dress a Crow woman can own. connoting her wealth and prominence in the community.

It was hard for me to narrow down the many beautiful artworks I saw to show just a few here.  The painting above is titled "Young Plains Indian" by James Bama, in 1980.

 

"The Stagecoach" by Norman Rockwell, 1966

 

"Estes Park, Long's Peak" by Albert Bierstadt, 1877

  

"The Open Range" by Herbert Dunton, 1914

Some examples of Western sculpture by Frederic Remington and furniture crafted from animal horn.

There is so much more of interest to show from the museum, so I will be back with Part 2  of the Denver Art Museum tomorrow, so that I can showcase some European and American Art, as well as Asian and Spanish Colonial Art, within their collection

Part two can be read at this link.

You can also find me on

Instagram Twitter Facebook 

Pinterest