With a primary focus on American Art of the Twentieth Century and a preponderance of works on paper, the Museum collection includes a wide range of styles of modernist practice. Paintings by Arthur Bowen Davies, Edwin Dickinson, and Friedel Dzubas, and sculptures by William Zorach, Alexander Calder, and George Rickey, in addition to the noteworthy collection of public sculptures on the campus, demonstrate major trends in modernism. Works on paper by luminaries Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Alice Neel, Philip Pearlstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol demonstrate mid-century developments. The Museum’s collection of photography and video works lends significant strength to holdings in contemporary art.
Augmenting the painting and sculpture of the twentieth century to the present day is the College’s impressive collection of public sculpture, which includes major works by Tony Smith, Dan Graham, and Michael Singer, among others. Since 1999 the Museum has been collecting contemporary photography and video works in a unique project initiated by an alumna to engage student participation. Each year the students recommend works for acquisition in these mediums. The Museum’s collection of photography, in addition to nineteenth-century examples, includes recent works by Olafur Eliasson, Sally Mann, Gregory Crewdson, and Chuck Close, among other contemporary artists.
A unique aspect of the Museum’s holdings is a collection of decorative art objects by the St. Petersburg firm of Fabergé. The gift to the College from a Vermont family descended from the Russian Tsars [the Romanofs], the collection offers a fascinating and highly unusual glimpse into the material culture of this dramatic period of history.
Rock crystal, platinum, rose-cut diamonds, 2 1/2 x 1 x 1/2 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Nancy and Edward Wynkoop, 2001.021
Bronze, 38 5/8 x 29 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Commissioned with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund, 1982.001
Lithograph on Arches cover paper, 51 x 36 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Robert Gober in honor of David Bumbeck, 2003.001
Oil on board, 36 x 29 1/2 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Mr. Robert C. Graham Jr. ’63, 1991.001
Offset lithography and silkscreen on paper, 53 x 39 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr., 2008.015.14
Screenprint on paper, 27 9/16 x 19 11/16 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Foster Family Art Acquisition Fund, 2012.037
Lithograph and silkscreen prints on paper, 39 x 39 3/4 inches each
Edition: 35 of 50
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Electra Havemeyer Webb Memorial Fund, 2009.048.1–.3
Oil on canvas, 36 3/8 x 80 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the G. Crossan Seybolt ’77 Art Acquisition Fund, 2012.013
Oil on canvas, 94 7/8 x 47 1/4 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Natasha McKenna Elkon, Class of 1996, 2000.037
Watercolor on paper, 23 7/8 x 16 7/8 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift in memory of Michael Oliver Grosz, Class of 1978, given by his parents, Peter M. and Lilian Grosz, 1987.055
Rosewood, 18 1/4 x 13 7/8 x 8 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Friends of Art Acquisition Fund and the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund, 1994.007
Steel and found objects, 7 7/8 x 10 x 10 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Fund, the Walter Cerf Art Fund, and the Memorial Art Fund, 1994.002
Hanging mobile; painted sheet metal and wire, 24 x 48 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Horace Shepard III (Margaret Willings ’22), New Canaan, Connecticut, 1976.157
Beryllium, copper, and brass, 45 1/2 x 10 x 10 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Friends of Art Acquisition Fund, the Christian A. Johnson Memorial Art Acquisition Fund, the Walter Cerf Art Fund, and gift (by exchange) of Carmen Walker ’11, Wilbur F. Weeks ’47, Prudence Montgomery, and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence McCoy, 2005.049
Serigraph on paper, 27 3/8 x 36 3/8 inches
Collection of Middlebury College Museum of Art. Purchase with funds provided by the Friends of Art Acquisition Fund and a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1976.154