Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum records

The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum is a teaching museum of the University of Minnesota. Established in 1934 with a mission to instill art into the everyday lives of students, the Museum preserves and displays the University’s art collection and features thematic interdisciplinary exhibitions and educational programming for students and the greater community. The Museum Building was designed by Architect Frank Gehry and named after Frederick R. Weisman, prominent art collector and native of Minneapolis. The museum, known previously as the University Art Museum (1983-1993) and University Art Gallery (1934-1983), resided in Northrop Memorial Auditorium prior to the Opening of the Weisman Art Museum in 1993.

The University Art Gallery began as an experiment in the fine arts initiated by University President Lotus Coffman and Assistant to the President Malcolm Willey. Referred to as the “Little Gallery,” it opened on April 5, 1934, on the fourth floor of Northrop Memorial Auditorium. The gallery was administered by a Fine Arts Committee composed of Willey as Chairman and faculty representatives from the various art disciplines on campus including Fine Arts (Everard M. Upjohn), Architecture (Frederick Mann, S. Chatwood Burton), Art Education (Ruth Raymond), Home Economics (Harriet Goldstein), and Ancient History (Faith Thompson). Hudson D. Walker, grandson of T.B. Walker and graduate of the Fogg Museum, Harvard University, was hired by the University in March 1934 to serve as Curator of Art on a part-time appointment. After Walker’s departure in June 1934, Ruth Lawrence, widow of former Assistant to the President James C. Lawrence, was appointed as curator. Lawrence’s title was changed to Director in 1940, and she served in that role until her retirement in 1957.

Early exhibitions were arranged to support instruction and were organized through national traveling exhibition programs, prominent museums, and art institutions and through direct loans from artists. Exhibitions featuring student and faculty artwork were also regularly held. The gallery conducted an art rental program and established a Fine Arts Room where art appreciation was emphasized over formal study.

Among the gallery staff were federal student workers from the National Youth Administration who packed and unpacked exhibitions, framed artwork, and monitored the Fine Arts Room and gallery. From 1938 to 1942, the gallery was assigned Works Progress Administration (WPA) employees, who under Lawrence’s oversight, built a robust exhibition program and art reference repository. The reference materials, comprised of slides, pamphlets, and other clippings from published materials, served as a resource to support instruction at the University and educational work throughout Minnesota. In 1942, following the U.S. entrance into World War II, all WPA employment at the University was reassigned to support the war effort, and many gallery activities were briefly suspended as a result.

In 1947, a centralized Department of Art under the College of Science, Literature and the Arts (SLA) was formed, integrating work formerly offered in the School of Architecture and other Institute of Technology departments, art education courses in the College of Education, and other subjects in SLA. The Gallery became part of the newly formed department. H. Harvard Arnason served as department chair until 1961.

In 1950, Hudson D. Walker, who had become a prominent art dealer and collector in New York City, placed his private art collection, comprised of works from important contemporary artists, on permanent loan to the University. His collection was donated in 1978 as a bequest to the University after his death in 1976 and constituted a substantial contribution to the development of the gallery’s permanent collection.

SLA was restructured and renamed the College of Liberal Arts in 1962. An internal reorganization within the college separated the Department of Art into the Studio Arts and Art History departments in 1966, with oversight of the gallery granted to the Art History department. The administrative structure of the gallery during the 1960s and 1970s was reflected in exhibitions and programming: Studio Arts and Art History faculty served as Gallery directors, faculty exhibitions were featured, and thesis exhibitions of master of fine arts (MFA) candidates were held each spring quarter.

In 1972, Elmer L. Andersen, Chair of the University Board of Regents, charged a committee to reconsider the role of the gallery within the University. A sub-committee recommended that the gallery become an all-University teaching resource with a focus on serving all academic disciplines. To achieve this aim, the gallery was moved administratively from the Art History department in the College of Liberal Arts to an independent unit organized under the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs in July 1974.

The structural change of the Gallery precipitated a burgeoning Exhibitions Program in the late 1970s that included a series of major interdisciplinary federal grant-funded exhibitions and a long-running traveling exhibition program.

The gallery’s constricted quarters in Northrop Auditorium curtailed exhibitions and programming. Insufficient temperature and climate controls for the care and preservation of objects in the collection and for loans of works for exhibitions were cumbersome and prevented the gallery from receiving accreditation by the American Association of Museums.

Several iterations of planning for a new building arose over the years, including the gallery as a part of a new arts quarter on the West Bank campus, as a partner in a new location for the Campus Club, and as a part of a new campus alumni center. In each case, funding was never realized.

To focus the mission and purpose of the gallery, a request was made for a title change to better reflect the organization’s identity as a museum as opposed to a gallery. On May 12, 1983, the Board of Regents officially resolved to approve “University Art Museum” as the new title.

Through the creation of a community advisory committee, the Colleagues Advisory Board, in 1984, museum administration placed concerted effort on planning and fundraising for a new building. Two substantial commitments created financial capacity for the new building: a promise of funding from University President Kenneth Keller as part of the Minnesota Campaign, and a commitment of $3 million from Frederick R. Weisman, prominent art collector and businessman.

Following the selection of architect Frank Gehry, construction was completed on the new museum site – adjacent to Coffman Memorial Union on the East Bank campus - in the fall of 1993. The Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum (WAM) Building opened on November 21, 1993.

WAM closed in September 2010 to complete an 8,100 square foot expansion of gallery space Designed by Gehry Associates. The Museum re-opened on October 3, 2011.

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