Figure 1 Robert Henri (1865-1929) Portrait of Willie Gee Oil on canvas, 1904 39 ½ x 33 ½ (including frame) 31 ¼ x 26 ¼ (image) Gift of the artist, 1925
Figure 2 Asher Brown Durand (1796-1886) Landscape (A View of Schroon Lake) Oil on canvas, 1849 38 x 50 (including frame) 30 x 42 (image) Purchase, 1956, Wallace M. Scudder Bequest Fund
The Newark Museum was the first public institution in the United States to mount exhibitions of American folk paintings and sculpture in 1930 and 1931, and continues to expand its collecting of folk, outsider, and self-taught artists, from Ammi Phillips and Edward Hicks to more recent drawings by Martín Ramírez and Bill Traylor. Newark is home to important holdings of folk sculpture by William Edmondson and David Butler.
certain collections that are the finest of their type in the world. The Museum’s celebrated Tibetan collection is unique in both breadth of material and the known provenance of the objects. From the first exhibition of Tibetan art in 1911, to the re-consecration of the Tibetan Buddhist altar in the galleries by His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in 1990, Newark has been a leader in the field of Tibetan studies. [Fig. 3]
The Museum boasts a fine selection of mid-century paintings by Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, and others, and also features important sculptures by Andy Warhol, Louise Nevelson, and George Segal. Newark continues to collect the art of its time in all media, including recent work by Martin Puryear, Kiki Smith, and Bill Viola.
Extensive and diverse holdings of Japanese and Chinese art in all media complement works from South Asia ranging from the Neolithic period to present day. [Fig. 4] Several large and glorious Hindu and Buddhist stone sculptures are a highlight among the 900 works from Southeast Asia. The Korean collection boasts some of the finest examples of Korean ceramics, costumes, and textiles in all of North America. Historic photography and textiles are particular strengths of the Asian collections across all regions.
It was with the arts of Asia that the Newark Museum’s collection was first established. The city funded the purchase of a collection of several thousand Japanese works from Newark pharmacist George T. Rockwell in 1909—the only part of the Museum’s holdings ever funded by the city. Since then, the Asian collection has grown to nearly 30,000 objects representing all of Asia, with
The Decorative Arts collection at The Newark Museum encompasses large and diverse holdings of European and American objects, ranging from the sixteenth century to the present.
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