An Art Museum for Worcester, 125 Years Later

New York had one. So did Philadelphia and Boston. Worcester’s Stephen Salisbury III believed his hometown deserved an art museum, too. In 1896 the philanthropist and art collector joined forces with other community leaders to build one for their city. Theirs was a bold vision. Worcester’s museum would not be a repository of a rich man's treasures, but rather an institution created “for the benefit of all.” People of all ages, walks of life, and backgrounds would view masterpieces from around the world and learn—as never before—about art and the world in which it was created.

This year we celebrate the 125th anniversary of the realization of Salisbury’s vision: the opening in 1898 of the brand-new Worcester Art Museum. It was the beginning of a remarkable journey for a fledgling institution with big ideas, forward-thinking leadership, and a generous community. While initially WAM's collections were modest (many of the pieces on display were loans), the collection steadily grew over the decades through thoughtful purchases and the munificence of collectors and supporters. Family portraits by Gilbert Stuart, silver by Paul Revere, and America's first public collection of Japanese prints soon went on display. The Museum bought works by Impressionists, fresh from their studios. Just over a decade after opening, WAM had established a fine arts library and founded a progressive art education program that continues to this day. Strategic initiatives, such as co-sponsoring the first major excavation at Antioch and purchasing a medieval Chapter House in the 1930s, were impressive for a museum in a city of Worcester’s size.

But WAM is not an institution that is satisfied looking back. It is one that looks forward, seeking ever new opportunities to deliver Stephen Salisbury’s original vision. Thus, after 125 years—and five additions to the original building—the Worcester Art

Museum now stands as one of our nation’s finest encyclopedic art collections, one that is sought after throughout the world for scholarship, loans, and traveling exhibitions. And through innovative programming, transformative education, and wide-ranging outreach, WAM benefits more people and has a greater impact than could ever have been imagined in 1898.

We celebrate this anniversary by honoring Salisbury’s dream—and the many who also believed in it—with a bold campaign to ensure that the Museum’s collection and historic building will enrich lives for generations to come. This campaign will raise $125 million to fund major capital projects, strengthen the endowment, and provide important operational and programming support. When completed, the Worcester Art Museum will have a historic building meeting 21st-century standards to safeguard the collection, including a state-ofthe-art arms and armor gallery; strong, sustainable finances to carry the organization forward with confidence; and robust, creative programming to engage and inspire both new and existing audiences.

It is time for WAM to build a solid foundation for a future that both honors its distinguished history and realizes its tremendous potential. Museum Members will learn more about “The Campaign for Worcester Art Museum” in the coming months. In the meantime, please join us for our Spring Community Day on Sunday, May 7, to celebrate WAM's birthday! Admission will be free to all.

The Worcester Art Museum is 125 years old! Learn how the Museum came to be what it is today—including curious facts, notable moments, and important milestones along the way— in an updated historical timeline on our website. Access the timeline here:

Frontiers of Impressionism

April 1 – June 25, 2023

At the turn of the 20th century, around the time the Worcester Art Museum first opened its doors, French artist Claude Monet was spending winters in foggy London painting his Waterloo Bridge series. During the warmer months, he was at work in his Giverny garden cultivating his famous water lilies series. A few decades earlier, Monet, along with other French artists, such as Camille Pissarro and Alfred Sisley, had pioneered a new art movement—Impressionism—a daring departure from long-established painting traditions. Characterized by a lighter, looser brushwork; a dedication to painting outdoors (en plein air); and a commitment to capturing on canvas what the artist saw (rather than a stylized version of it), Impressionism would become one of the most popular and enduring styles of art.

While artists were breaking ground across the ocean, the Worcester Art Museum was hard at work assembling a collection for its brand-new building. The Museum’s Director at the time, the forward-thinking Philip J. Gentner, purchased two paintings by Monet directly from the artist’s Parisian dealer, Paul Durand-Ruel. The 1910 acquisitions of Waterloo Bridge (1903) and Waterlilies (1908) by the French artist were the first paintings from these series collected by an American institution. The year before, Gentner had bought Mary Cassatt’s Mother and Child (1903), making WAM one of the first two American museums—along with the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York—to purchase a Cassatt. These bold acquisitions set the pace over the next decades for the Museum to amass a stunning collection of American and European paintings that shows the range of Impressionism’s influence and appeal.

According to Claire Whitner, Director of Curatorial Affairs and James A. Welu Curator of European Art, this selective process of purchasing Impressionist works in the early 1900s makes WAM’s collection uniquely curated. “Many of these paintings were purchased by WAM within a few years of their creation,” she says. “The Museum was definitely ahead of the curve in collecting what was then contemporary art and still new to broader American audiences.”

Some 50 of these works, representing over 30 artists, have been organized into Frontiers of Impressionism, debuting at WAM on April 1. The exhibition tells the story of Impressionism’s roots and emergence in France and its subsequent expansion to the United States, Germany, Scandinavia, the Caribbean, and beyond. Highlighting such artists as Monet, Cassatt, Pissarro, Pierre-Auguste Renoir,

Childe Hassam, and Max Slevogt, Frontiers of Impressionism demonstrates the movement’s international allure and its national adaptations, captured in everything from the serene details of lily pads to the wonders of the Grand Canyon.

While some paintings will be familiar to WAM regulars, about half of the works in Frontiers of Impressionism will be on view for the first time in decades. This expanded look into the collection will provide greater context to the story of Impressionism’s evolution as a major art movement.

The exhibition will also include several key examples of Puerto Rican Impressionism. Two landscapes by artist Manuel Jordán, loaned from Puerto Rico’s Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, and three paintings by Francisco Oller from private lenders will be on view in Worcester. This will be the first time the works by Manuel Jordán will travel outside of Puerto Rico.

After closing at WAM on June 25, Frontiers of Impressionism will go on tour beginning with the Tampa Museum of Art (September 8, 2023 – January 7, 2024) before moving on to the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and other locations in Japan through 2024. While WAM’s Impressionist gems will certainly be missed while they are traveling, “the tour is an excellent opportunity to expand awareness of Worcester’s collection beyond the Northeast region,” says Whitner. “It will also introduce many American Impressionist artists to Japanese audiences—who have long admired paintings by European Impressionists, but have less experience with works by their American counterparts.” Back at the Museum, visitors will enjoy becoming acquainted with new works on the gallery walls, including some that are usually in storage and others on view as long-term loans.

Frontiers of Impressionism celebrates a style of art that presents the beauty of the visual world in a uniquely accessible and unpretentious fashion—a style that has been beloved for generations around the world. We are fortunate to have a distinguished collection of some of the most renowned Impressionist artists right here at WAM. Now, art lovers in Worcester and around the world will get to experience and appreciate these treasures in a whole new light.

This exhibition is generously supported by the Fletcher Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Pollack PEACE Fund. This project is also funded in part by Ruth and John Adam, Jr. Exhibition Fund, Richard A. Heald Curatorial Fund, Michie Family Curatorial Fund, and the Christian A. Johnson Exhibition Fund. Related programming is supported by the Amelia and Robert H. Haley Memorial Lecture Fund and the Spear Fund for Public Programs.

Watercolors Unboxed

June 10 – September 10, 2023

The Worcester Art Museum’s collection of American watercolors is among its most treasured, yet we rarely get to appreciate these paintings in person. Due to their fragility and sensitivity to light, works on paper spend most of their lives in climate-controlled storage. This summer, 50 of the Museum’s finest watercolors will come out of their boxes and go on view for the first time in many years.

Watercolors Unboxed, opening June 10, will feature American watercolors from 1880 to 1950, often considered the “golden age” of the medium among American practitioners. Most of these exceptional works have not been on display at WAM since the 1987 exhibition, American Traditions in Watercolor, organized by then-curator Susan Strickler. In addition, Watercolors Unboxed will include a significant selection of European watercolors by such artists as Amedeo Modigliani and Emile Nolde. The exhibition will also present never-before-seen watercolors from the San Ildefonso school, a collective of Native American artists working in the southwest during the first half of the twentieth century. While over 30 artists will be represented in the exhibition, two of the stars will be John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer, whose internationally revered works make up a sizable amount of WAM’s late 19th- and early 20th-century American watercolor collection. These paintings will feature prominently in an exhibition section on the daunting technical challenges of watercolor as a medium. These include Sargent’s splendid Muddy Alligators (1917)—a masterful depiction of light, shadow, and texture—displayed alongside preparatory sketches the artist made for the drawing. A seemingly unlikely subject for a renowned portrait painter, this scene of mud-caked alligators sunning themselves at the water’s edge attests to Sargent’s artistic range and virtuosity. The finished watercolor reveals a diversity of techniques: scratching into the paper to denote teeth, applying wax resist to suggest rough textures, and laying on broad brushstrokes to delineate tree trunks.

“Sargent’s bravado and understanding of negative space are unrivaled. He appears to paint without hesitation, which is remarkable when working in a medium as unforgiving as watercolor,” says Nancy Kathryn Burns, Stoddard Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs. “It takes an artist with resolve to make bold strokes in watercolor, as it is hard to ‘take back’ a mark once it’s on the paper.”

The genius of Winslow Homer is revealed in several works from different locales he visited, including Bermuda, the Bahamas, and New England. These diverse watercolors mark his many shifts in style, as well as his extraordinary understanding of how to manipulate the medium to create spatial depth. In Bermuda Settlers (1901), the crisp sunlight, deep-blue sea, and green grass all convey a sense of untouched natural beauty. At the center of his composition, Homer depicts five razor-back hogs grazing, one of which pauses and looks directly at the viewer. In contrast with many of Homer's other works that express competition in nature and impending loss, this watercolor conveys a timeless image of nature's richness and comfort.

“While Sargent’s work is marked by passion, Homer is admired for his patience working in an impatient medium,” explains Burns. “He was adept at fixing mistakes, scraping paper to remove errors, and using his areas of removal as representative elements in a scene. Visitors to the exhibition will be able to better understand Homer’s clever corrections.”

Bringing the exhibition full circle, the final focus will be on a selection of outstanding European watercolors from the Museum’s collection. Almost all are portraits, reflecting the fact that by the early twentieth century American artists had effectively claimed landscape as their signature subject in watercolor. At the same time, avant-garde art movements like Fauvism and Cubism had taken hold in Europe. These movements tended to focus primarily on the figure. WAM’s European watercolors are no exception, the majority of which reflect the influence of artists like Matisse on German, Russian, and Italian artists who were processing French contemporary art from afar.

One hundred and twenty-five years after the Worcester Art Museum opened, Watercolors Unboxed offers unparalleled opportunity to enjoy the Museum’s stellar collection of American and European watercolors. The chance to see these normally hidden gems before they return to storage for several years should not be missed.

This exhibition is generously supported by the Fletcher Foundation.

Complementing Watercolors Unboxed will be an exhibition of 10 watercolor paintings by students and faculty of WAM’s Studio Class Program. These local artists have formed deep relationships with WAM’s collection, and their work reflects many of the same techniques and skills found in the works in the exhibition.