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Saint Maryʼs College Museum of Art

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Coordinates: 37°50′29″N 122°06′33″W / 37.84139°N 122.10917°W / 37.84139; -122.10917
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Saint Mary's College Museum of Art
Map
Former name
William Keith Gallery; Hearst Art Gallery
Established1934 (1934)
LocationBrother Cornelius Art Center
Saint Mary's College
1928 St Mary's Road
Moraga, California 94575
Coordinates37°50′29″N 122°06′33″W / 37.84139°N 122.10917°W / 37.84139; -122.10917
TypeArt Museum, Ethnographic Museum
AccreditationAmerican Alliance of Museums
Key holdingsWilliam Keith Collection
Collection size5000[1]
OwnerSaint Mary's College of California
Websitewww.stmarys-ca.edu/museum-art

Saint Mary's College Museum of Art (SMCMoA) is an art and ethnographic museum located on the campus of Saint Mary's College of California, a private Catholic college in Moraga, California, established in 1863 and administered by the De La Salle Brothers. The museum owns the largest collection of paintings by California landscape artist William Keith (1838–1911). The museum is a member of the North American Reciprocal Museum Association (NARM)[1] and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.[2]

History

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Gertrude Boyle Kanno, Bust of William Keith, 1904. SMCMoA collection. Photo by Jim Heaphy.

The first museum on the Saint Mary's College of California campus was the William Keith Gallery, founded by professor Brother Fidelis Cornelius Braeg in 1934. The gallery exhibited an extensive collection of paintings by William Keith, a California landscape artist and friend of John Muir. Brother Cornelius wrote a 900-page, two-volume biography of Keith,[3][4] working closely with the artist's widow, Mary McHenry Keith, a lawyer and social justice advocate known for her work in the women's suffrage and animal rights movements.[5][6]

In 1977 the museum reopened as the Hearst Art Gallery, after an expansion funded by the Hearst Art Foundation. Exhibitions included ethnographic materials and artwork of California and the American West.[5]

In 2011, after another expansion, the gallery was renamed Saint Maryʼs College Museum of Art (SMCMoA). The renovated museum's inaugural exhibition was The Comprehensive Keith: A Centennial Tribute, marking 100 years since the death of William Keith.[7]

Collections

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The permanent collection comprises more than 5000 objects, many grouped in special collections. Pre-eminent among these is the William Keith Collection,[8] the most comprehensive collection of the artist's work, with over 200 objects, including paintings and archival materials.[5]

The California Collection includes works from the 19th century to the present day with a special focus on artists of the San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California, including works by Morris Graves, Helen Hyde, Gregory Kondos, Maurice Logan, Roi Partridge, Louis Siegriest, Raimonds Staprans, Wayne Thiebaud, and Frank Van Sloun. The Alberti Collection of European prints and works on paper includes works by Marc Chagall, Pablo Picasso, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri Matisse, and Käthe Kollwitz[9]

E. Charlton Fortune, Triptych after Puvis de Chavannes' La vie pastorale de sainte Geneviève, (1912), gouache on cardboard, SMCMoA collection.[10]

Other collections include the Social Justice & Political Prints Collection; the American Photography Collection; the African Art Collection; the Asian, Oceanic, and Indigenous Peoples of the Americas Collection; and the Religious Collection, with works from the Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque eras related to the Catholic church.[9]

Exhibitions

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Six paintings by William Keith on display in the museum, March 2024. Photo by Steven Saylor

According to its website, "The museum rotates exhibitions twice a year, showcasing the permanent collection, traveling exhibitions, and emerging California artists."[2] All exhibitions and public programs are free and open to the public, and the facility is ADA accessible.[11]

Works from the collection also rotate on view in the campus library, chapel, public spaces, and offices, with sculptural works on the grounds and in gardens.

Some exhibitions since the museum's rechristening in 2011 include:[12]

  • Harmonia Rosales, ΩA Omega Alpha, 2024[13]
  • Hold It Lightly, the first solo museum exhibit of the works of Lisa Congdon, 2023-2024[14]
  • Corita Kent: heroes & sheroes, 2023
  • Collective Memories: Stonecuts from Cape Dorset, 2021
  • Darker Shades of Red: Soviet Propaganda Posters from the Cold War Era, 2018[15]
  • William Keith and the Battle for Hetch Hetchy, 2016
  • A Fine Line: The Doctor Maurice Alberti Print Collection of European and American Masters, 2015
  • Bright and Beautiful: Early San Francisco Bay Area Watercolors, the Collection of Roger and Kathy Carter, 2015
  • Grace Hudson: Painter of the Pomo People, 2014
  • Pueblo to Pueblo: The Legacy of Southwest Indian Pottery, 2014[16]
  • Lockwood de Forest, In Search of the Source: The Nile and Beyond, 2013
  • Nyame Brown, John Henry's Adventures In a Post-Black World, 2012
  • Richard McLean, Master Artist Tribute IX, Horses, Landscapes and Portraits, 2012[17]
  • The Comprehensive Keith: A Centennial Tribute, 2011[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Saint Mary's College Museum of Art". narmassociation.org. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Saint Mary's College Museum of Art (SMCMoA) Earns Highest National Recognition". www.stmarys-ca.edu. November 15, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  3. ^ Cornelius, Brother. Keith, Old Master of California, Volume 1, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1942.
  4. ^ Cornelius, Brother. Keith, Old Master of California, Volume 2, Fresno, Calif., Academy Library Guild, 1957.
  5. ^ a b c "About Us". www.stmarys-ca.edu. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  6. ^ "Mary McHenry Keith: The Suffragist Behind the Portrait". www.stmarys-ca.edu. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  7. ^ a b Aleta George (October 17, 2011). "Bay Area Nature 100 Years Ago, Through the Eyes of Painter William Keith". baynature.org. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  8. ^ "William Keith Collection". www.stmarys-ca.edu. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Collection". www.stmarys-ca.edu. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  10. ^ "16 Mesmerizing Masterpieces by Lesbian Artist E. Charlton Fortune". www.advocate.com. August 17, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  11. ^ "Visit". www.stmarys-ca.edu. Retrieved December 13, 2024.
  12. ^ "Exhibitions Archive". www.stmarys-ca.edu. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  13. ^ "ΩA Omega Alpha". www.stmarys-ca.edu. Retrieved December 16, 2024.
  14. ^ Lisa Congdon (August 21, 2023). "The Solo Debut of Lisa Congdon Exhibition to open at Saint Mary's College Museum of Art". lisacongdon.com. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  15. ^ Kara Navolio (February 21, 2018). "An insider's perspective into life under Communist Russia at SMC Museum of Art". www.lamorindaweekly.com. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  16. ^ Lou Fancher (October 22, 2014). "SMC Museum of Art Pottery Exhibit Underscores the History of a People, Tradition". www.lamorindaweekly.com. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
  17. ^ Jennifer Wake (April 11, 2012). "Richard McLean: Painting to Exactitude". www.lamorindaweekly.com. Retrieved December 15, 2024.
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