Art Bridges Initiative
Thomas Cole, Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, 1828. Oil on canvas. Gift of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815–1865.
Frederic Edwin Church, Icebergs (detail), 1863. Oil on canvas. Emily L. Ainsley Fund.
Thomas Hart Benton, New England Editor (detail), 1946. Oil and tempera on gessoed panel. The Hayden Collection—Charles Henry Hayden Fund. Art © T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
Elihu Vedder, The Questioner of the Sphinx (detail), 1863. Oil on canvas. Bequest of Mrs. Martin Brimmer.
Thomas Cole, Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, 1828. Oil on canvas. Gift of Martha C. Karolik for the M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Paintings, 1815–1865.
Frederic Edwin Church, Icebergs (detail), 1863. Oil on canvas. Emily L. Ainsley Fund.
Thomas Hart Benton, New England Editor (detail), 1946. Oil and tempera on gessoed panel. The Hayden Collection—Charles Henry Hayden Fund. Art © T. H. Benton and R. P. Benton Testamentary Trusts/UMB Bank Trustee/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
Elihu Vedder, The Questioner of the Sphinx (detail), 1863. Oil on canvas. Bequest of Mrs. Martin Brimmer.
Supporting an innovative program to engage communities across the region
The °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±ÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ has shared works from its collection with four partner museums across the Northeast as part of the Art Bridges Initiative. This program by the builds on its mission to expand access to American art across the United States.
Curators and museum professionals from the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±ÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ have collaborated with colleagues from the in Springfield, Massachusetts; the in Cooperstown, New York; the in Waterbury, Connecticut; and in Utica, New York, to co-organize a series of American art exhibitions over several years, drawing on the combined breadth and depth of the museums’ holdings and encouraging deep engagement with local communities.
This innovative program began in 2018 and involved multiple phases of exhibitions. Phase one, completed between 2018 and 2019, focused on single-work loans to the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±ÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥â€™s partner museums. Phase two, completed between 2020 and 2022, was collaboratively cocurated with the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±ÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥â€™s partners and included loaning 15 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±ÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ artworks to each partner site. Phase three, completed in 2024, culminated in two large-scale traveling exhibitions that included 60 °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±ÏÖ³¡Ö±²¥ artworks. The initiative has also supported professional development exchange and opportunities for dynamic programming.
Phase One Exhibitions
D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts
June 19–December 30, 2018
Fenimore Art Museum
May 25–September 30, 2018
Mattatuck Museum
June 24–September 2, 2018
Munson
April 5–December 29, 2019
Phase Two Exhibitions
Mattatuck Museum
May 2–September 12, 2021
D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts
December 4, 2021–February 27, 2022
Munson
February 19–May 8, 2022
Fenimore Art Museum
May 28–September 5,2022
Phase Three Exhibitions
Between Worlds: Stories of Artists and Migration
September 24, 2023–January 7, 2024
February 17–May 5, 2024
As They Saw It: Women Artists Now and Then
October 14, 2023–January 14, 2024
April 2–September 2, 2024
