University of Michigan Museum of Art

University of Michigan Museum of Art
Location Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Coordinates 42°16′31″N 83°44′26″W / 42.275167°N 83.740472°W / 42.275167; -83.740472
Type Art museum
Director Christina Olsen (2017– )
Website www.umma.umich.edu

The University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan with 94,000 sq ft (8,700 m2) is one of the largest university art museums in the USA. Built as a war memorial in 1909 for the university's fallen alumni from the Civil War, Alumni Memorial Hall originally housed U-M's Alumni office along with the university's growing art collection.

UMMA contains a comprehensive collection that represents more than 150 years at the university, with nearly 19,000 works of art that span cultures, eras, and media. The museum's displays works by James McNeill Whistler, Franz Kline, Helen Frankenthaler, Pablo Picasso, Joshua Reynolds, Claude Monet, Max Beckmann, Walker Evans, Randolph Rogers, and Kara Walker, among many others.[1]

In the spring of 2009, the museum reopened after a major $41.9 million expansion and renovation designed by Brad Cloepfil and Allied Works Architecture, which more than doubled the size of the museum. The museum comprises the renovated Alumni Memorial Hall with 41,000 sq ft (3,800 m2) and the new 53,000 sq ft (4,900 m2) Maxine and Stuart Frankel and the Frankel Family Wing. The museum's current director is Christina Olsen, who was appointed in 2017.

Construction

Alumni Memorial Hall, first floor blueprint

Alumni Memorial Hall was originally conceived in 1864 as a way to honor the University of Michigan students, faculty, and alumni who had died fighting in the Civil War. However, the project was put on hold until 1904, when a committee of Michigan alumni and professors, led by Professor Martin Luther D'Ooge and Judge Claudius B. Grant, secured a promissory note from the Board of Regents for the land the hall would eventually be built on.

Judge Grant laying the cornerstone of Alumni Memorial Hall, June, 1908.

With the land set aside, the Board of Regents created a committee to work in parallel with the Alumni Memorial Committee in 1905, and by the end of the year had awarded the project to the Detroit architecture firm Donaldson and Meier at the cost of $175,000. The hall's cornerstone was laid by Judge Grant and construction began in June 1908. Alumni Memorial Hall was dedicated on May 11, 1910, with a final building cost of $190,000.

The hall itself was built in the neoclassical tradition with a pair of two stone columns flanking the hall's main bronze doors with two smaller side doors. The inside continues to house the Alumni Association's headquarters and the university's vast art collection alongside pieces donated by alumni, including a bust of the university's first president Henry Philip Tappan. It also housed the University Club, before the club moved across the street to the Union.[2][3]

Michigan During the Civil War

Michigan Soldiers in the Civil War

Michigan in the American Civil War

See also

References

  1. ↑ "University of Michigan | Museum of Art (UMMA)". Umma.umich.edu. Retrieved 2014-01-28.
  2. ↑ Buildings and Grounds Department (1923). University of Michigan Buildings. University of Michigan.
  3. ↑ Donnelly, Walter A. (1958). The University of Michigan: An Encyclopedic Survey. University of Michigan.

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