The Akron Art Museum is an art museum in Akron, Ohio, United States. The museum first opened on February 1, 1922, as the Akron Art Institute. It was located in two borrowed rooms in the basement of the public library. The Institute offered classes in art appreciation organized by Edwin Coupland Shaw and his wife, Jennifer Bond Shaw. Its first permanent home was the Akron Public Library, a Carnegie library building, from 1948 to 1981. It has grown considerably since 1922. The new museum was open to the public on July 17, 2007, and hosts visiting shows from national and international collections.
Collections
The Akron Art Museum features 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of gallery space dedicated to displaying its collection of art produced since 1850. The museum also hosts visiting shows from national and international exhibitions.
1850–1950
Western art created between 1850 and 1950 graces the first floor of the museum’s 1899 Italian Renaissance revival style building. The first two rooms feature examples of turn-of-the-century realism and American impressionism. Two rooms explore modernism and regionalism in northeast Ohio from 1910 through 1950. A final room is dedicated entirely to the work of William Sommer, a northeast Ohio artist. These galleries include paintings by Thomas Wilmer Dewing and Frederick Carl Frieseke. Bed Bug Exterminator Akron
1950 – Present
Since 1950 is featured in eight rooms located in the museum’s 2007 Knight building. These galleries reflect the eclectic style of late-twentieth-century art through examples of postmodern painting and sculpture, photorealism, and Pop Art. On view are Chuck Close’s Linda, an oversize early image; Andy Warhol’s silk-screened Single Elvis and Brillo Boxes; and Ohio carver and preacher Elijah Pierce’s animated relief sculpture The Wise and Foolish Virgins and Four Other Scenes.
Exhibitions
More is More: Visual Richness in Contemporary Art
This exhibition aims to delight visitors and rewards those who observe closely and look again through rich patterning, ornate surfaces, and curious details. The artists in this show add unexpected twists to historic styles and techniques. Even the way the art is displayed draws on the past—works are hung floor to ceiling, a three-hundred-year-old installation technique known as ‘salon-style.’
Continuum: Historical Resonances in Contemporary Art
Art is not made in a vacuum. Even while trying new things, artists draw on deep traditions. Five unique pairings of artworks in this gallery encourage enjoyment of the past alongside the present. These combinations invite you to find surprises and delights, to see the old anew and the new afresh.
The 10,000 Things
Art is not made in a vacuum. Even while trying new things, artists draw on deep traditions. Five unique pairings of artworks in this gallery encourage enjoyment of the past alongside the present. These combinations invite you to find surprises and delights, to see the old anew and the new afresh.
Address: 1 S High St, Akron, OH
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